Viacom Nets To Air Live Town Hall Special Tonight

MTV News and BET News said Friday it will team to develop a live town hall meeting tonight from New York to address the violent event that have taken place this week.

The What Now? An MTV News and BET News Town Hall will air at 10 p.m. on MTV, BET, VH1, MTV2, mtvU, MTV Live, VH1 Classic, MTV Hits, Centric and Logo, as well as on the several of the networks’ Facebook and YouTube pages, said company officials.

The special will offer an open forum for artists, activists, and audience members to discuss the issues underlying this latest round of violence and tragedy in America, according to Viacom officials. The event will be hosted by Charlamagne Tha God (MTV2’s ”Uncommon Sense with Charlamagne), MTV News’ Jamil Smith, BET News’ Marc Lamont and Franchesca Ramsey (MTV’s Decoded,  Comedy Central’s The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore).

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.