For immediate release
Chicago, IL - July 3, 2023
As crime in Chicago and the surrounding communities is on the rise, WTTW News and Chicago Tonight will launch a new reporting initiative – “A Safer City” – to dive deep into neighborhood crime, violence, and public safety throughout the summer months as residents, policymakers, and community groups work to address the growing issue.
For dedicated coverage, watch Chicago Tonight on Mondays at 5:30 and 10:00 pm, and find ongoing and extensive data and investigative reporting on the WTTW News website.
This essential, solutions-driven journalism will focus on the impact of living around and with regular violence; what public safety officials and the police are doing about the problem; how segregation and our physical environment – community centers, parks, streets, sidewalks, and highways – drive or stem crime and violence; how social media comes into play in everyday criminal activity; and what analysts and academics can bring to the discussion.
Chicago Tonight will launch “A Safer City” on Monday, July 3 at 5:30 pm with a look back, one year later, at the mass shooting at the Highland Park 4th of July parade that killed 7 and wounded 48. Co-anchor Paris Schutz will report live from Highland Park with an interview with Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering, and the program will include an incisive conversation about the efficacy of gun laws and the recent ban in Illinois of some assault weapons.
“As a public media newsroom, WTTW News has a responsibility to serve our community in real time with trusted, fact-based, and community-responsive news and information,” said Chicago Tonight Executive Producer and News Director Jay Smith. “Throughout the summer, “A Safer City” will take the time to investigate how a community responds in the face of adversity to create resident-driven solutions.”
WTTW’s coverage of local public safety is supported by The Sue Ling Gin Charitable Foundation Initiative for Reducing Violence in Chicago.
WTTW NEWS is a nonprofit, public media newsroom serving the Chicago region with trusted, independent, ground-up community reporting and outlets for deeper engagement and discourse on regional issues of consequence and concern. Read and watch WTTW News coverage at wttw.com/news.
CHICAGO TONIGHT, WTTW’s flagship nightly live news program, is an essential source for trusted, local, independent news that connects the people and communities in our region. We inform and engage our audience by providing clarity and context around complex issues, serving as a resource for information about the Chicago/Midwest region and engaging communities through in-depth original reporting. Watch Chicago Tonight (Mondays-Thursdays at 5:30 and 10:00 pm), Latino Voices (Fridays at 5:30 pm), Week in Review (Fridays at 7:00 pm), and Black Voices (Fridays at 10:00 pm).
