2nd Pulitzer story hit; panel calls it 'reckless'

The National News Council described as "reckless and speculative" a Village Voice news story that was awarded a Pulitzer Prize after a Washington Post story was disqualified as a fake. Teresa Carpenter, author of the Voice story, had originally been the second choice for the feature award on the basis of that article and two others in the newspaper.

The council voted 13 to 1 to approve a staff recommendation concluding that complaints about the May 12, 1980, Voice story on Dennis Sweeney, who killed former Rep. Allard Lowenstein, were warranted.

The council amended the recommendation to read that the story was "reckless and speculative in severa l important respects."