Russell Carollo

Following the publication of the series, the Peace Corps claimed the reporting was inaccurate, without citing any factual errors in the stories, instead, they criticized the DDN motives for reporting the stories. As a result of the reports, the House Committee on International Relations, held a hearing on March 24, resulting in the passage of a bill to better protect the safety of Peace Corps volunteers, six days later. In 2011, after the death of a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa, a bill, the Kate Puzey Volunteer Protection Act, to protect whistleblowers at the Peace Corps, and improve protections for the victims of violence and sexual assault.

Carollo graduated from Louisiana State University with a bachelor's degree in journalism, and from Southeastern Louisiana University with a bachelor's degree in history. in 2009, Carollo taught journalism at Colorado College and Oklahoma State University.

He was also adept at using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which he used to make between 75 to 150 requests and appeals a year. In a 2006 question and answer session, before the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, he stated that he spent at least half of his day filing, taking phone calls, and appealing FOIA requests, and examining the information he received.

In 2004, Carollo and Mei-Ling Hopgood, were the recipients of the Edgar A. Poe Award, the Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting, the Clark Mollenhoff award, and were finalists for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, for the series of investigative reports, "Casualties of Peace," published in 2003. The House Committee on International Relations passed of a bill to protect the safety of Peace Corps volunteers as a result of the series.

From October 26 through November 1, 2003, the Dayton Daily News (DDN) began publishing a seven-part series, "Casualties of Peace." The stories were the result of a two-year investigation into the violence, including rape and murder, against Peace Corps volunteers. Once the DDN agreed they had a project, they hired Christine Willmsem and assigned her to the project, however, she left to work for The Seattle Times; Mei-Ling Hopgood, one of their Washington correspondents, joined Carollo on the project. Carollo, already experienced in covering overseas projects, and Hopgood, having been with the Dayton Daily News since 2001, were the lead writers on the project.

He shared the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, with Jeff Nesmith, at the Dayton Daily News for uncovering mismanagement in military healthcare. After publication of the series of stories, the Pentagon announced the creation of a civilian board to review malpractice cases.

The project won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. The Associated Press, reported on April 14, 1998, that "after the series was published, the military promised Congress it would make more than a dozen changes to its medical system, and the Pentagon announced the creation of a civilian board to review malpractice cases."

In the fall of 1997, the Dayton Daily News, published a series of seven stories, titled, "Unnecessary Danger," written by Carollo and fellow colleague, Jeff Nesmith, reporting on flaws in the military's health care system and protections that specifically protected the military from lawsuits over medical malpractice such as the 1950 Feres doctrine and the 1943 Military Claims Act. An example of how the Feres doctrine protected a military physician was described in the last report in the series:

The full series of reports outlined how the military system failed to meet the same standards and safeguards enjoyed by the civilian population to include allowing military doctors to practice healthcare without state medical licences; these flaws sometimes led to injury and death. The first article in the series was published on October 5, 1997. The series of stories is listed below.

Carollo was a three-time finalist for the Pulitzer prize, in 1992, with Mike Casey, for his work on, "Lives on the Line," in 1996, with Carol Hernandez, Jeff Nesmith and Cheryl Reed, for his contributions on two articles, "Military Secrets" and "Prisoners on the Payroll," and in 2002 for "The Foreign Game."

Carollo was a finalist for the Pulitzer prize, in 1992, with Mike Casey, for his work on, "Lives on the Line," in 1996, with Carol Hernandez, Jeff Nesmith and Cheryl Reed, for his contributions on two articles, "Military Secrets" and "Prisoners on the Payroll," and in 2002 for "The Foreign Game."

Carollo worked as a special projects reporter for the Sacramento Bee, the Los Angeles Times, and beginning in 1990, the Dayton Daily News. At the time of his death, Carollo worked as a freelance journalist and consultant based out of Colorado.

Carollo was a former Michigan Journalism Fellow, class of 1989–1990. During his studies, he focused on First Amendment rights and improving his writing, saying that the program had given him time to look at "really good writing" and that the fellowship program helped to give him a "more global view." Louisiana State University inducted him into its Journalism Hall of Fame in 2009.

The first article in the series explained, "Congress in 1986 passed a law prohibiting the release of any information about the quality of military doctors. Many states have similar laws, intended to encourage open discussions among doctors. But the military uses the federal law to protect the same types of information state medical boards release every day." During the year-long investigation, Carollo and Nesmith found 200 doctors that were "linked to incompetence and malpractice," including one doctor accused of malpractice 15 times over 14-years. The doctor had been installed as the hospital commander in Germany.

Russell John Carollo (March 16, 1955 – December 19, 2018) was an American Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, who worked as an investigative reporter for numerous publications, including the Dayton Daily News, the Los Angeles Times, and The Sacramento Bee.