The Cable News Network has made $200,000 gift to the National Association of Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) in support of the organization's college scholarship fund..

NLGJA president Eric Hegedus told PageOneQ today, "The gift from CNN is an expression of confidence that we are doing the right things as journalists in making sure there is fair and accurate coverage of LGBT issues."

"This gift," Mr. Hegedus continued, "guarantees many years of support." for the fund, named after the organization's founder, Leroy F. Aarons. The gift will be used to endow the fund.

In a statement released with the gift, CNN Worldwide's president, Jim Walton, said, "CNN is only as strong as its journalists and this donation helps ensure that we not only support an outstanding organization of journalists but a deep resource for hiring future CNN anchors, correspondents and producers."

Mr. Hegedus was excited about how the gift will impact future reporting. "This donation and the scholarships will guarantee young journalists will be better able to cover the same issues better than ever before."

The gift is the largest received from a media company in the group's fifteen year history. Mr. Aarons founded the group in 1990 and remained committed to its work up to his death in 2004 at the age of 70. The scholarship was created in 2004. The CNN gift will be added to the fund's endowment. The fund is administered on NLGJA's behalf by the Philadelphia Foundation's Delaware Valley Legacy Fund.

Disclosure: The editor and publisher of PageOneQ.com is a member of NLGJA.

Related links:
NLGJA: http://www.nlgja.com
FUND INFO: http://nlgja.org/students/student_index.html
CNN: http://www.cnn.com