MTV, BET Plan Live Town Hall on Violence

MTV News and BET News are planning a live town hall style meeting Friday night at MTV’s Times Square studios to address the rash of violent events that have been in the news lately.

The program will air on 10 Viacom cable networks, on Facebook Live and YouTube.

Leading the discussion will be MTV’s Charlamagne, Jamil Smith and Franchesca Ramsey, BET’s Marc Lamont Hill and Larry Wilmore from Comedy Central’s Nightly Show.

MTV says the program will be an open forum of artists, activists and audience members discussing the issues underlying this latest round in a cycle of violence and tragedy in America.

Viewers will be invented to contribute by calling in or using the social media hashtag #WhatNow.

The town hall will appear on air at: MTV, BET, VH1, MTV2, mtvU, MTV Live, VH1 Classic, MTV Hits, Centric and Logo. It will be on Facebook Live via MTV, MTV News, BET, VH1 and Logo and on the MTV and MTV News YouTube channels.

On Saturday, CBS News plans to present 48 Hours: Bringing a Nation Together on Saturday at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

The one-hour special will focus on the aftermath of the deadly police shootings in Dallas.

Maurice DuBois will anchor from New York with reports from correspondents in Dallas and around the coutnry.

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.