town hall meetings

TV stations have the power to be positive change agents in their communities. Bringing together community leaders to openly discuss issues that divide and unite neighborhoods in a town hall setting can be the first step.  Two Hearst affiliates, one in Baltimore and the other in Pittsburgh, are broadcasting town hall meetings that address critical issues facing their communities.

The “town hall” — in which a candidate typically has a one-on-one exchange with an anchor and takes questions from voters — has become an increasingly popular format on cable news networks. There have already been 24 of them across CNN, Fox News and MSNBC, up from just a handful in the entire 2012 campaign. While town halls don’t deliver the same massive Nielsen numbers as the debates, they are still potent from a ratings standpoint and give TV news a chance to drill deeper into the candidates’ policy positions.

Sinclair Broadcast Group’s ABC affiliate WJLA Washington (DMA 8), in conjunction with co-owned cable channel NewsChannel 8, will hold a live town hall meeting on Thursday, Oct. 16 entitled Your […]