ATHENS, Ohio -- Ohio University Public Television and the Scripps School of Journalism will host a Town Hall Meeting at the Athens Community Center on Tuesday, October 9 at 7 p.m. WOUB-TV and the Scripps School will bring together news professionals, civic and business leaders, and the viewing public in an important discussion about how local news coverage can be more relevant and engage broader audiences.

Guy Philips, Athens City Council president; Hub Burton, associate vice president of Communications and Marketing at Ohio University; Carolyn Bailey Lewis, director and general manager of the Ohio University Telecommunications Center; Jim Hintz, Ohio University Student Senate president; Jim Phillips, The Athens NEWS senior staff writer; Fred Kight, WOUB assistant news director; and Chad Kister, community activist, are among the panelists participating.

Moderated by WOUB Radio and Television News Director Tim Sharp, the meeting will be videotaped to air on WOUB-TV on Tuesday, October 16 at 9:00 p.m., immediately following the new PBS series "Local News" which will air at 8 p.m.

Community members are encouraged to attend the event to learn about the many resources available and to better understand the day-to-day realities of a newsroom.

"This is a great opportunity for the public to discuss local issues and to see how the media cover them," says Doug Partusch, WOUB's associate director for Development and Communications.

The Ohio University Telecommunications Center, a unit of the College of Communication, operates two television stations -- WOUB-TV/Channel 20 in Athens and WOUC-TV/Channel 44 in Cambridge -- one cable channel -- WOUB II -- and six radio stations -- WOUB-1340 AM, WOUB-91.3 FM, WOUC-89.1 FM, WOUH-91.9 FM, WOUL-89.1 FM and WOUZ-90.1 FM.