WILL THE 'VILLAGE VOICE' LOSE ITS PULITZER?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000200800004-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: May 30, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000200800004-7
HUMAN EVENTS
30 MAY 1981
WM the "age N Bice'
Lose Its-Pulitzer??
When it-was discovered, that an eight-yearold
heroin addict by. the name of "Jimmy", didn't
exist, the Washington Post returned. its Pulitzer
Prize and reporter Janet Cooke resigned from the
newspaper. The prize was then awarded-to Teresa
Carpenter, who wrote a-series of articles for ?the
leftist weekly New York newspaper, Village Voice,
about some bizarre murders.
Nov, however, one of Teresa Carpenter's
stories has come under serious scrutiny. The
so-caller] "I'ulitzerite" scandal may not be
ore ',
James A. Wechsler, a columnist for the New
York Post, has filed a complaint with the National
News Council, a- media watchdog group, about
one - of Carpenter's -stories that concerned..thel
murder of. former.; Congressman Allard. Lowen-
stein by -a one-time associate, Dennis Sweeney.
Lowenstein's brother Larry has also filed a com-
plaint with the news council about the same article.
In essence, the complaints charge that the article
was deceptive, too heavily based on anonymous
sources, and insensitive, since it made serious alle-
gations against a dead man.
For instance, Wechsler. notes that one of the
passages in the article : dealt _ with. reports that
Lowenstein once tried to seduce Sweeney. The
passage read as follows:. "Now, from his cell at
Rikers Island, Sweeney denies that they ever had a
relationship. Once, while he and Lowenstein. were
traveling. - through . Mississippi. together;-they
checked - into a - motel. According. to - Sweeney,
Lowenstein made a pass and Sweeney rebuffed it:'
Wechsler says reading ' that paragrapli might
lead you to infer that Carpenter had interviewed
Sweeny. In fact, as Carpenter now admits, there
was no sucb interview.
The New York Post columnist also criticizes!
Carpenter for reporting unsubstantiated all a
tions that Lowenstein was once connected with the
CIA. rater *aid in the article that such allega-
uAn_--_Avere_iust "rumored."' but she reported
them anyway. .
The allegations were mostly based on Lowers-'
ste'm's former -role as resident -of the National!
a reci support. But as
Wechsler ints out, the Carpenter piece itself
Student- entter - Lowenstein Association, stepped which down in as 1967 president" was revealed
to ave ient of 'CIA dent" (em-
noted that the revelation was that "the CIA had
been setting the international agenda of the Na-'
bona) Student Association since 1 52, one year a -
phasis added).
Wechsler says that the Carpenter piece was later
"reproduced verbatim in, of all places, -the Wash-
ington Post.
"Shortly thereafter, 15 of Lowenstein's former
congressional colleagues published a letter in that
newspaper declaring, `The piece purports to be a
serious and objective examination of how Dennis
Sweeney came to kill Al. But measured against even
the loosest journalistic standards, it is grossly def--l
cient. It is devoid of any attributable quotes....
Instead,-it is rife with unsubstantiated assertions
and gratuitous innuendo.' "
Teresa Carpenter and Village Voice Editor
David Schneiderman have said they stand by the
article, and the' Voice has reprinted; the Sweeny-
Lowenstein story, with the statement, .-"Let the
Reader:Judge:" But the important judgment will
come from the National News Council, which may
find the Voice guilty of the charges Wechsler has
:made , thusigiving the Pulitzer. Board yet another
black eye:
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000200800004-7