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CONGRESSWOMAN JORDAN UNDERSCORES FREEDOM OF PRESS

"We have a long, long way to go, my friends, before this country becomes the land of the free people and the land of the brave people," Congresswoman Barbara Jordan told a packed audience at the 33rd annual National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) convention at the Houston Oaks Hotel.

The congresswoman said that the mass media can awaken people because "we have an unfinished agenda." She said that the black press consists of people with a penchant for the truth and the public is entitled to have it.

Ms. Jordan said that the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution is the one thing the press can rely on. She added that if the press doesn't make its voice heard at this time, the amendment could be tested on the floor of the House of Representatives in due course, and no one knows what will happen then.

As an example of what can happen to a bill in Congress, the congresswoman went on to explain that there is a bill she knows of which has been amended 24 times previously and that the bill does not provide that some educational institutes get "back-hold" money for giving to such organizations at  the NAACP to aid in desegregation.
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[[image - black & white photograph of an African-American woman smiling at a man wearing a checkered suit jacket]]

[[image - black & white photograph of Marshal Bass and John Westbury]]

[[caption]] Marshal Bass, who presented R.J. Reynolds check to the National Newspaper Publishers Association for the continuance of the study of Journalism is shown here with John Westbury, Dean of Admissions, Texas Southern University. [[/caption]]

R.J. Reynolds Industries, Inc. presented to the National Newspaper Publishers Association at the organization's 33rd annual convention here last week (Friday, June 22), a check for $6,540, representing the second installment in a $50,000 journalism scholarship program.

The money is earmarked to second year grants to five students selected last year and for initial scholarships for five additional students to be selected later this summer. During the next six years Reynolds Industries will provide a total of 20 four-year scholarships for Black students to study journalism.

The check was presented by Marshall Bass, corporate manager of personnel development for Reynolds Industries, who said the company and NNPA had designed the program to help increase the number of college-trained Black media personnel.

"We are extremely pleased with the first-year students in this scholarship program," Bass said. "And, we believe that this program will make a significant contribution to the needs of Black Journalism and help strengthen the already influential Black media in this country."

Accepting the check was Frank L. Stanley, chairman of the NNPA's Scholarship Foundation and publisher of the Louisville Defender. Stanley, who worked with Reynolds Industries in formulating the scholarship program, said the Reynolds grant is the largest the publishers' Scholarship Foundation has received.

The 1972 scholarship winners and their schools are:

Gail F. Baker, Northwestern University; Mary Barr Brake, University of Texas in El Paso; Joan T. Logan, University of Maryland; Elsie L. Romer, Michigan State University; and Carolyn C. Taylor, University of Alabama.

The 1973 scholarship students will be announced later this summer. Students are selected by the NNPA Scholarship Foundation, working with the National Scholarship Service and Fund for Negro Students.

Continuing for two more years, five Reynolds journalism scholarship winners will be announced each year until a total of 20 have been selected to receive the four-year scholarships. The total cost of the seven-year program will exceed $50,000.

Reynolds Industries is the parent company of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, which produces the popular WINSTON, SALEM, CAMEL, DORAL and VANTAGE cigarettes. Other companies in the Reynolds Industries organization are Sea-Land Service, Inc., in containerized shipping; RJR Foods, Inc., in convenience foods and beverages; RJR Archer, Inc., In aluminum products and packaging; and American Independent Oil Company (Aminoil), in international petroleum.