ATHENS, Ohio -- Ohio University Public Television and the Scripps School of Journalism will host a Town Hall Meeting in Marietta on Tuesday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. The Town Hall Meeting will be held at the Marietta College in the Andrews Hall Great Room. Andrews Hall is located on Putnam Street in Marietta. WOUB/WOUC-TV and Scripps 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.

Dan Harrison, President of Citizens for Responsible Government Action; Kirk Greenfield, WTAP Reporter; Marietta Times Representative; and a Marietta Police Department Representative are among the panelists participating.

Moderated by WOUB Radio and Television News Director Tim Sharp, the meeting will be videotaped to air on WOUB/WOUC-TV on Tuesday, Oct. 30 at 9 p.m., immediately following the new PBS series "Local News" which will air at 8 p.m.

Community members are encouraged to attend the Oct. 23 Marietta College event and be part of the live audience to learn more about local issues. Topics such as flag desecration, a new city building, and the fairgrounds will be discussed.

A local businessman who sells flags put a black drape over his huge flag outside of his store after the 9/11 tragedies. Many community members liked this sign of mourning, but other community members thought this was desecration. The new city building is a referendum on the November ballot in Marietta, and is a debate over whether the city should build a new building or consolidate services and courts in the existing building. The fairgrounds is an ongoing battle over who controls the fairgrounds and fair revenues -- the Fair Board or the Civitan Club.

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.