Evening star., 1947-03-01
Negro Press Is Praised
AS Truman Presents
WiIIkie Awards

| 1IcSlotut HUMAN praised the
Negro press for its contribution to
the Nation as he presented the an
nual Wendell L. Willkie Awards for
Negro journalism to outstanding
members of the Negro press at the
National Press Club last night.
More than 200 guests at the dinner
also heard Supreme Court Justice
Frankfurter speak. Mrs. Wendell L.
Willkie and her son Philip were
among the guests.
After making the awards the
President paid tribute to the part
the more than 80 Negro newspapers
in the Nation are playing in edu-
eating the people to understand all
must live in "one world" as pro-
pounded by the late Mr.. Willkie.
The President said the United
States wants to supply guidance and
help to the peoples of the world in
getting true freedom.
Cites Need for Example.
"One way in which we can help
is to set an example Of a nation
in which people of different back
grounds and different origins work
peacefully and successfully along
side one another" he declared.
More and more we are learning,
and in no small measure through
the medium of the press, how close
ly our democracy Is under observa-
tion," he said.
I'VE are learning what loud echoes
both our successes and failures have
in every corner of the world. That
is one of the pressing reasons why
we cannot afford failures. When
we fail to live together in peace, the
failure touches not us, as Americans,
alone but the cause Of democracy
itself in the whole world. That we
must never forget"
The award for first place in
objective reporting went to Ralph
Matthews, editor Of the national
;; bureau of Afro-American News
. papers here.
Other Awards.
Other awards we're:
For the newspaper which showed
the best example of public service
the Norfolk (Va) Journal and
Guide, P. Bernard Young, jr.,
editor. Honorable mention-the
Louisville (Ky.) Defender, Frank l.
Stanley. editor.
For objective reporting-Honorable
mention, Enoch T. Waters of the
Chicago Defender and Louis Lautier
of the Negro Newspaper Publishers
Associations Washington bureau.
For the best writing other than
reporting-William O. Walker, editor
of the Cleveland. Call-Post. Honor
able mention-Louis Jones Of the
Houston (TexD Informer and Robert
Durr Of the Birmingham (Ala.)
Weekly Review.
A special award>was made to the
Chicago Defender and the Columbia
Broadcasting System radio station,
WBBM, for program called
"Democracy-U. S. A." H. Leslie
Atlass received the award for CHS
and Editor Charles P. Browning for
the Defender.
Frankfurter Speaks.
Master of ceremonies at the dinner
was Douglas S. Freeman, editor of
the Richmond News-Leader, who is
, president of the corporation formed
: for the purpose of making the yearly
: awards.
Justice Frankfurter spoke of the
.. responsibilities of the press toward
democracy and warned of the
potential opportunities for arousing
prejudices and confusing Judgment
open to them. He said he had
refrained from speaking of the
Negro problem except in generalities
because he considered it instead an
American problem"
Mr.. Stanley, who is president of
the Negro Newspaper Publishers
Association, also spoke, discussing
the "second-class" citizenship which
Negros have in the United States
and pointing out ways in which the
Negro press could, and has been
helping, solve the problem.
The dinner was attended by rank
ing Government officials and polit-
ical leaders as well as top newspaper
executives.