BET News Travels to the Frontline of the Deadly Gun Play Ravaging Chicago’s Neighborhoods With ‘HEART OF THE CITY: CHICAGO’S WAR ON VIOLENCE’ Sunday, December 7 at 10:00 p.m.*

NEW YORK, Dec. 2 /PRNewswire/ — On an average day last year in Chicago,
five people were shot. This past summer alone, over 120 people were murdered
– that’s nearly double the amount of American soldiers killed in the Iraq war
over the same period of time. On Sunday, December 7 @ 10:00 p.m.*, BET News
takes a piercing look at the gun violence tearing apart Chicago’s
neighborhoods during the half hour documentary special, HEART OF THE CITY:
CHICAGO’S WAR ON VIOLENCE. Through the heart-wrenching accounts of parents who
have lost children to bullets, police officers on the frontline, gang
mediators and the youth involved in the struggle; HEART OF THE CITY: CHICAGO’S
WAR ON VIOLENCE is an emotional call to put an end to gun violence in Chicago.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070716/BETNETWORKSLOGO )

Although homicide rates and shootings have declined across the country,
gunplay continues to plague economically struggling minority communities and
Chicago is no exception. This Fall, the windy city made national headlines
with the tragic murders of Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson’s mother,
brother and nephew. With neighborhoods nicknamed “Terror-town” and the “Wild
Hundreds,” gun violence in this region is not new news. If homicides continue
at their current pace, Chicago will have more than 500 murders this year
becoming the murder capital of the United States.

In HEART OF THE CITY: CHICAGO’S WAR ON VIOLENCE, the voices of the
victims, those involved in the struggle, and those working to change the
situation will share their stories and lessons learned. Employing a
hyper-personalized approach, BET News reports from some of the toughest
neighborhoods in Chicago, gets to the root of the violence and explores the
measures being taken to help save lives.

Quotes from HEART OF THE CITY: CHICAGO’S WAR ON VIOLENCE:

“You could see one bullet hole where he had his hand up, you know, don’t
shoot me,” said Theresa Stokes, a mother who’s 18-year-old son was murdered.
“But they shot him anyway.”

“This disease has hit our city of Chicago. And if we don’t get a cure …
the city is going to be blank,” said Willie Williams, a parent who lost his
16-year-old son.

“Sometimes because there are so many shootings that are here … you
believe that everybody has a gun,” said Craig Lyke, Chicago Police Department
gang unit officer.

Immediately following HEART OF THE CITY: CHICAGO’S WAR ON VIOLENCE, BET
continues the discussion on violence in America with a special episode of THE
TRUTH WITH JEFF JOHNSON premiering Sunday, December 7 at 10:30 p.m.* In this
half hour special, host Jeff Johnson interviews community organizers who are
on the frontline in the fight to prevent senseless gun violence in urban
communities. Guests include Chicago based violent interrupter, Tim White of
CeaseFire, a violence prevention initiative, Dorothy Johnson-Speight, Founder
of Mothers in Charge and Larry Hamm, founder and president of People’s
Organization for Progress.

HEART OF THE CITY: CHICAGO’S WAR ON VIOLENCE, is a production of BET News.

For more on HEART OF THE CITY: CHICAGO’S WAR ON VIOLENCE, please visit us
at: http://www.bet.com/OnTV/BETShows/HeartoftheCity_BETNews.htm

*All times ET/PT

About BET Networks

BET Networks, a division of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA)(NYSE: VIA.B), is the
nation’s leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public
affairs television programming for the African-American audience. The primary
BET channel reaches more than 88 million households according to Nielsen Media
Research, and can be seen in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean. BET is the
dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of business
extensions: BET.com, a leading internet destination for Black entertainment,
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Home Entertainment, a collection of BET-branded offerings for the home
environment including DVDs and video-on-demand; BET Mobile, which provides
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International, an extension of BET network programming for global
distribution.

SOURCE BET Networks