The Media Education Lab co-hosted two spectacular public events that featured Renee Hobbs and distinguished journalists in a discussion about the representation of crime news on television.

The Media Education Lab co-hosted "Eye on the Media,"  two media literacy townhall events in Boston and Philadelphia sponsored by the Independent Film Channel and featuring "The IFC Media Project," a media literacy program targetng media-savvy adults. In Philadelphia, distinguished guests included Dan Rather, former anchor CBS Evening News, Bill Marimow, Editor, Philadelphia Inquirer; Lynne Abraham, District Attorney for Philadelphia; and Chris Blackman, VP News NBC 10 Philadelphia; and E. Steven Collins, WRNB-Philadelphia. Watch a short video of Philadelphia highlights.

In Boston, speakers included Tucker Carlson, political correspondent, MSNBC; Juan Williams, NPR news analyst; Candy Altman, VP of News, Hearst-Argyle Television; Marty Baron, editor of the Boston Globe, and Josh Silver of the Free Press.  Watch a short video of the Boston event highlights.

At these events, we discussed how the news media reports on crime and how crime news coverage affects our community. We applied the critical questions of media literacy to analyze TV news, and there was dynamic, interactive small-group roundtable discussion featuring media professionals, academics, college and high school students, and civic and community leaders. We also featured the work of some educators and activists who are developing media literacy programs in both Philadelphia and Boston.

This event is was co-sponsored by the Independent Film Channel (IFC), the Media Education Lab at Temple University, the Aspen Institute for Communications and Society, and the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE).