Common Ground: Stopping School Violence includes four days of extended coverage followed by a n hour-long televised town hall meeting. The special reports will air nightly on Fox59 News at 10 this week, with in-depth stories on a variety of topics including gun control measures, mental illness, school security and even the idea of arming teachers.
DMA 26
WXIN Indianapolis Tackles School Violence
Tribune-owned Fox affiliate WXIN Indianapolis (DMA 26) is making addressing violence in schools a priority with four days of extended news coverage and an hour-long televised forum.
Common Ground: Stopping School Violence brings educators, law enforcement and parents together in a landmark event. The forum focuses on how to better protect children in the wake of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut as well as recent violent events at schools in Central Indiana.
“With the spate of violence in our schools, nationally and locally, we wanted to take the bold step in starting a real and constructive dialogue,” says Larry Delia, VP-GM of WXIN and co-owned CW affil WTTV. “This is an initiative that transcends our roles as journalists; we are empowering the local community to rise up, ask tough questions, and ultimately keep our children safe in their schools.”
Special reports will air nightly on Fox59 News at 10 during the week of Feb. 4. The in-depth stories will focus on a variety of topics in the current school violence debate, including gun control measures, mental illness, school security and even the idea of arming teachers.
These stories set the stage for a 60-minute open forum with a panel discussion. The panel included a school superintendent, other administrators, security experts and a psychologist along with a parent and student. WXIN anchors Angela Ganote and Ray Cortopassi moderated the discussion that included questions from the live audience and social media.
“As one of Indiana’s largest school districts, Hamilton Southeastern was a logical choice for beginning the dialogue,” said Lee Rosenthal, WXIN news director. “The district’s superintendent deserves a lot of credit for wanting to host this forum, working in partnership with Fox59 to raise awareness of the challenges and brainstorm solutions.”
BRAND CONNECTIONS
The event was recorded at Fishers Junior High School and will air on Thursday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. As viewers watch the event on WXIN, they can take part in a live discussion on the station’s Facebook page led by anchor Fanchon Stinger.
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