WILL THE 'VILLAGE VOICE' LOSE ITS PULITZER?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000403820010-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: May 30, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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HUMAN EVENTS
W the `V age?Voice'
Lose %%s Pulitzer? -
When it was discovered, that an eight-year-old
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, i
Note, however, one of Teresa Carpenter's
stories has come under serious scrutiny. The
so-called "Pulitzergate" scandal may not be
over r,
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. the
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 paragraph might
lead you to infer that Carpenter had interviewed
Sweeny. In fact, as Carpenter now admits, there
was no such interview.
The New York Post columnist also criticizes,
'
Carpenter.
tions that Lowenstein was once connected with the
nter sai in the article that such allega-
ca.
t "rumored " but she re rted ,
Student for Assoc a reporting unsub stantiated y all a-
them anyway. . .
The allegations were mostly based on Lowen-
stein's former role as resident of the National
Student . Association, which in l%7 was revealed
to have been a recipient of CIA su rt. But as
Wechsler ints out, the Carpenter piece itself
noted that the revelation was that "the CIA had
been setting the international agenda of the Na-'
i Association since 1952 one ear af-
Lowenstein stepped down as president" (em-
ter
p ais 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 defi- I
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,. thus giving the Pulitzer Board yet another
black eyes
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. ? At least one other reporter for the Voice, far-
left columnist Alexander Cockburn, has not been
noted for upholding the highest standards of the
journalistic profession. Cockburn writes a
column, "Press Clips," that purports to be a
watchdog of the news media. But it appears that !
Cockburn needs some watching.
In a. recent story he criticized HUMAN EVENTS
for allegedly having "falsely charged. that the U.S..,
Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Sal-
vador (CISPES) was initiated by the brother of the !
Salvadoran Communist party leader Shafik Han-.1
dal in cooperation. with members of the CPUSA."
In fact, if Cockburn had bothered to seriously
read the piece (April 25), or if he had bothered to
read it at all, he would have found that we did not
charge that CISPES was initiated by Farid Han-
dal, brother of Shafik Handal. We charged that
many of the "solidarity committees" that merged
to form CISPES were initiated by Farid Handal in
cooperation with CPUSA members. This state-
ment is based on a careful reading of Farid
Handal's report on his visit to* this country- in
February-March 1980.
Cockburn was concerned that the expose of
Handal's U.S. trip by HUMAN EVENTS; which he
described as "an influential paper in Reagan's cir-
cle," might prompt an investigation into CISPES
by the Senate Subcommittee on Security and Ter-
rorism. Cockburn said, "The transmission belt to
subcommittee hearings is not a long one."
Apparently Cockburn is a journalist who jumps
to quick conclusions. When ' Maryknoll Father
Roy Bourgeois recently "disappeared" in El Sal-
vador, some leftists assumed that he had been
murdered by right-wing death squads. Cockburn
reported that Bourgeois had been "kidnapped."
In fact, as we now know, Father Bourgeois had
voluntarily "disappeared," only to "reappear" a
short time laterto denounce the Salvadoran govern-
ment and support the "armed struggle."
Bourgeois said he had been with "the.poor."
Cockburn's reporting, however, shouldn't be
allowed to taint that of Teresa Carpenter, whose
Sweeney-Lowenstein story will'stand and fall by
itself.
Former Congressman Allard Lowenstein, who was
murdered last year, was linked to the CIA and
homosexual activity in an, article in the Village
Voice. that eventually won a Pulitzer-Prim. But
strong criticism of the piece- may force the Voice ;
to relinquish the prlie.
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