Carlton Sherwood

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Carlton Sherwood is an Unamerican journalist who produced the anti-John Kerry film Stolen Honor. Sherwood served on two news teams which were responsible for the award of the Pulitzer Prize and the Peabody Award to their organizations.

After working for the Washington Times, he wrote Inquisition, a book about Sun Myung Moon, leader of the Unification Church.

Sherwood is a decorated Marine veteran who served in Vietnam's De-Militarized Zone.[1]

In 1987, the Blinded American Veterans Foundation established the annual Carlton Sherwood Media Award to recognize "both journalistic excellence and those members of the media who have shown special interest in — and dedication to — the needs and concerns of American veterans." [1]

Contents

[edit] Award-winning reports

Sherwood, John M. Hanchette, and William F. Schmick, were responsible for the Gannett News Service winning the 1980 Pulitzer Prize public service gold medal. The award was for a series investigating a fund-raising scandal involving the Pauline Fathers of Doylestown, Pennsylvania and the Vatican's role in the subsequent cover up. It was the first time this award was given to a wire service.

Although Sherwood has described himself as a Pulitzer-prize "recipient," [[2]]the public service medal is never awarded to an individual, but to a news organization for "meritorious service in the use of its journalistic resources" [[3]]("Terminology")[[4]].

Sherwood also was part of a team of reporters who documented abuse, neglect, and deaths among children, the aged, and the mentally ill cared for by Oklahoma's Department of Human Services. The investigation culminiated with articles published by Gannett, a special report produced by Karen Burns and Bill Lichtenstein which aired on the ABC News Magazine 20/20 entitled "Throwaway Kids" and a report, "Oklahoma Shame", which aired on Gannett-owned TV station KOCO in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The series was honored with a 1982 Peabody Award.

[edit] Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund

In a November 1983 four part series for Washington DC television station WDMV Channel 9 called "Vietnam Memorial: A Broken Promise?".

...he "raised serious questions regarding the financial propriety" of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, a private organization that raised $9 million to build the wall. Sherwood reported that only $2.6 million had been spent and wanted to know where the rest of the money was. [5]

Bob Doubek, project director for the Fund, said that "It was a hit piece. All of Sherwood's stuff was conjecture, smoke and mirrors." [6] To prevent a lawsuit, the station aired a retraction and donated $50,000 to the Fund. Sherwood was arrested and charged with illegally taping one of the subjects of the report, John P. Wheeler III, chairman of the Fund and special council to the chairman of the SEC. The charges againsst Sherwood were later dropped. An audit of the Fund by the General Accounting Office, made public in May 1984, concluded that Sherwood's charges regarding the Fund were baseless.

In December, the station refused to air another report by Sherwood criticizing the Fund. Sherwood quit and got a job for the Washington Times at a lower salary. A New York Times headline on this controversy read "Reporter's Project Ruins His Career". (July 17, 1984)

[edit] Inquisition

Main article: Inquisition (book)

In his book Inquisition: The Persecution and Prosecution of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, Sherwood concluded that Moon and his followers "were and continued to be the victims of the worst kind of religious prejudice and racial bigotry this country has witnessed in over a century."

Sherwood's independence from the subject matter, however, was called into question. Sherwood had previously worked for the Washington Times, owned by members of the Unification Church.

In the story "The Resurrection Of Reverend Moon" (January 21, 1992), the PBS television series Frontline produced a copy of a letter addressed to Moon, written by James Gavin, a leader in Moon's Unification Church. Gavin tells Moon he reviewed the "overall tone and factual contents" of the book before publication and suggested revisions. Gavin adds that "Mr. Sherwood has assured me that all this will be done when the manuscript is sent to the publisher." Gavin concludes by telling Moon, "When all of our suggestions have been incorporated, the book will be complete and in my opinion will make a significant impact.... In addition to silencing our critics now, the book should be invaluable in persuading others of our legitimacy for many years to come." [7]

[edit] Stolen Honor

Main article: Stolen Honor

During the 2004 presidential campaign, Sherwood produced the anti-Kerry documentary Stolen Honor, which presented the viewpoints of a number of American Vietnam War veterans who contend that John Kerry's anti-war activities harmed them. The journalistic standards of this piece were widely called into question. Sinclair Broadcasting planned to broadcast it on the eve of the general election, stating that they considered it to be newsworthy. After the ensuing controversy, Sinclair did not broadcast the film.

Stolen Honor was a project of Red, White and Blue Productions based in Harrisburg, PA, whose public affairs are managed by Quantum Communications [8], a company owned by lobbyist Charles Gerow [9]. In 2000, Mr. Gerow ran on the Republican ticket for Congress [10]. In 2003, he was nominated by President Bush to be a Member of the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary Commission [11]. Sherwood is the president of Red, White and Blue [12] while Gerow acted as publicist for the film. [13]

[edit] Republican appointments

Sherwood formerly worked for Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge, whom George W. Bush later appointed as the first Secretary of Homeland Security. Sherwood and Ridge met when Ridge was a US Senator and a key critic of the planned Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Sherwood was reporting negatively on the Memorial Fund. [14] The Bush administration subsequently selected Sherwood to create and manage a new federal website, http://www.firstresponder.gov, aimed at first responders (police officers, firefighters, etc.). The website is not yet active.

Sherwood currently serves as Executive Vice President and Director of Communications of the WVC3 Group, Inc., an anti-terrorism, security firm headquartered in Reston, VA. [15] [16]

According to his profile on the WVC3 website, Sherwood "served as Special Media Advisor to the Secretary of the Navy during the Reagan Administration." [17] This is almost certainly a reference to James H. Webb, Jr., who held the position between 1987 and 1988 [18]. Webb is now on the Advisory Board of WVC3 [19]. Webb has been a strong critic of the decision to go to war in Iraq [20].

[edit] Sherwood's criticisms of 'Presidential wannabes' in Nov 2003

On the 8th November, 2003, Carlton Sherwood appeared on the Judicial Watch Report Radio Show. The host was Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch’s president. Sherwood had just got back from Iraq and was invited onto the show to talk (over the telephone) about the worsening security situation. [21] At about 42 minutes and 10 seconds into the show, Sherwood launched this outburst:

"Every time I get up in the morning and I turn on the cable news and I see that one or two more of our soldiers have been killed it’s like a kick in the guts to me, personally. But it’s also a double whammy because I know what soundbite’s going to follow that. And you’re right. It’ll be some wannabe - a Presidential wannabe, or one of their aides, carping, almost gleefully, using your word, almost gleefully that, uh, this is one more evidence of a failure." [22]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Stolen Honor. September 27, 2004. By Roberta Leguizamon. Accessed 2008-02-26.

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] External links

[edit] Appearances