The Lexington advertiser. [volume] (Lexington, Miss.) 1904-1985, 1962-06-07
Mississippi Women
Continued from page or.e)

president in the 22-year old
organization.
Before joining Westlng-
house Broadcasting Company
in 1853 as assistant chief of
its Washington News Bureau,
she was producer of the NBC
radio and teleyision programs
"American Forum of the Air
and youth Wants To Know"
AS Washington correspon-
dent for station WDCU-TV,
she produced and moderated
her own program, "Dateline
Washington" which won a
Sylvania citation for public
service.
In addition TO her daily spot
news broadcasts, she produces
and moderates a half-hour
weekly radio interview pro-
gram which frequently de-
velops front page stories.
She has reported every DEM
ocratic and Republican ma
tional convention since 1914.
Miss Corrick is a journalism
graduate of the University of
Texas, where she was presi-
dent of Theta Sigma Phi stu
dent chapter.
Mrs. Hazel Brannon Smith
Hazel Brannon Smith, Lex
ington, Mississippi, has been
campaigning the past % years
for the equal rights of all men
under the constitution and for
freedom and responsibility of
newspapers to publish the
truth.
She purchased her first
paper, The Durant News, in
1886. With her purchase of
The Lexington Advertiser in
1913, she stepped UP her
fight against slot machine
operators, liquor racketeers,
gamblers and corrupt Off
Gals who were finding easy
money and little opposition in
her county. In 1916, princi-
pally due to her persistence,
a grand jury voted ga indict-
ments after investigating or
ganized crime in Holmes
County.
Later, she was found guilty
of contempt Of court for in
terviewing a witness = the
widow of a Negro murder vic
tim - and was fined $4,000
and sentenced to Is days in
Jail. The sentence was sus-
pended and she was put on
probation for a year. The
Mississippi Supreme Court re-
versed the decision on appeal.
In 1854 she criticized the
Holmes County Sheriff in a
front-page editorial and was
promptly faced with a $57,500
libel suit. The trial jury
awarded him $4,000 but this
decision, too, was reversed by
the states Supreme Court.
Her fight against injustice
and crime has been costly.
Her husband lost his job as
administrator of the county
hospital in 1856 solely be-
cause Mrs. Smith had become
"a controversial figure" Her
opponents organized a on
certed advertising boycott and
in 1858 founded and subsidiz-
ed a competing weekly news
paper in Lexington.
Among her honors are the
National Editorial Associa-
tons Herrick Award for
editorial writing, embracing
the highest type of American
principles and ideals" in 1856;
a citation from the Fund for
the Republic to "an American
whose actions have made an
unusual contribution to adj
vancing the principles of free
dem and justice and the Bill
of Rights" in 1857; a COM
mendation from the Missis-
sippi Press Association for
cher epochal fight in the in
terest of freedom of the
press" in 1857 and the 1860
Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award
for Courage In Journalism
from the University of South
ern Illinois for "demonstrat-
ing the ability to perform
under great stress = her role
as editor of the community's
newspaper so effectively as
TO win the approval and sup
port in growing numbers of
the right-thinking people of
her town and county"