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News Anchor Suspended After Calling Out Station's Excessive Coverage Of Gabby Petito Case
Local news anchor, Frank Somerville has been suspended after a disagreement with his station's management over a tagline he wanted to run.
Someville, who's been with KTVU for nearly 30 years and is a fixture in the San Francisco Bay area, tried to discuss the racial disparity in how the media reports stories, using the coverage of Gabby Petito as an example.
When he brought up the 46-second tagline, the disagreement he had with the director Amber Eikel about the subject led to his suspension.
Frank Somerville is good people.https://twitter.com/HuffPost/status/1442587870846279684\u00a0\u2026— alessandro fillari (@alessandro fillari) 1632774958
It\u2019s an appalling move by KTVU, a station based in Oakland, CA with a diverse demographic population which includes 25% African Americans, to suspend an anchor for having the best intentions and calling out the oversaturation of Gabby coverage. Justice for Frank Somerville!— SFSportschick (@SFSportschick) 1632599171
News anchor \u2018suspended\u2019 amid row over coverage of Gabby Petito\u2019s casehttps://www.indy100.com/news/frank-somerville-suspended-gabby-petitio-ktvu-b1927513?utm_content=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1632732682-1\u00a0\u2026— The Independent (@The Independent) 1632734010
I\u2019ve been watching him for about 15+ years and he\u2019s been such a straight standup guy. I found overall his track record is impressive this is ridiculous and it sounds like the new team there is a mess. Go Frank.— Maria Chavez (@Maria Chavez) 1632629157
Frank Somerville is a 30 year vet at KTVU.\nThis also is a personal issue b/c Frank has an adopted black daughter\u2026https://twitter.com/HuffPost/status/1442587870846279684\u00a0\u2026— Kevin D. Gr\u00fcssing (pronounced Grew-Sing) (@Kevin D. Gr\u00fcssing (pronounced Grew-Sing)) 1632775548
For weeks, the news has been closely covering the search for Petito, a White female blogger who went missing while travelling with her fiancé Brian Laundrie. Eventually, her body was discovered, leading to a search for Laundrie as the prime suspect.
The extensive media coverage of first her disappearance then every tiny detail since has even led QAnon conspiracy theorists to claim the couple are actually crisis actors.
Somerville's disagreement and suspension happened just before Petito was discovered. At the time, the news anchor—himself the father of a Black daughter—wanted to highlight the disparity in how the media responds to a missing White woman versus a woman of color.
For comparison, in a nine year period 710 Indigenous people—mostly females—went missing in the same are as Petito. Their disappearances garnered little to no media coverage and most cases remain unresolved.
Like Somerville suggested for his own station, some news outlets are now examining that disparity.
While the Gabby Petito case captured national attention, native women are still murdered at 10 times the national average rate. In Wyoming alone, 710 indigenous people were reported missing from 2011-2020. We explored some reasons behind those statistics.https://to.pbs.org/39LpThr— PBS NewsHour (@PBS NewsHour) 1632790807
At least 710 Indigenous people disappeared in Wyoming from 2011 to 2020, according to a report issued in January. #MMIWhttps://lakota.law/3lVZsLs— Lakota Law Project (@Lakota Law Project) 1632502850
710 Indigenous People, Mostly Girls, Missing in Wyoming, Where Gabby Petito Disappeared. #MMIW #MMIWGhttps://www.insider.com/710-indigenous-people-missing-in-wyoming-where-gabby-petito-disappeared-2021-9\u00a0\u2026— Ruth H. Hopkins (Red Road Woman) (@Ruth H. Hopkins (Red Road Woman)) 1632153360
#MMIW \n\u201cI truly believe that if the 710 cases got nearly half the media coverage that Petito did, maybe things would\u2019ve been solved."-NBC\n\nAll-out search for Gabby Petito reveals glaring disparity for Wyoming's Indigenous people - NBC Newshttps://apple.news/ACyrzKWESScCsFqfPMVpSCg\u00a0\u2026— Retired.RN.in.SD (@Retired.RN.in.SD) 1632584889
While this disparity has now been pointed out and discussed by critics online, Somerville wanted a 46-second tagline to address it on air.
Instead, he was suspended.
About a week after Somerville was suspended, KTVU ran a story about the disparity between missing White women and everyone else in news coverage.
People wondered where they got that idea.
You can\u2019t seriously post this without addressing the fact that this is the very issue that your news anchor Frank Somerville suggested you have a nuanced discussion about, resulting in his subsequent suspension? You wouldn\u2019t really do that, would you?— christine (@christine) 1632631556
That part!— Future Dr. A.\ud83e\uddec\ud83c\udf40 (@Future Dr. A.\ud83e\uddec\ud83c\udf40) 1632627042
Nice try, but posting this won\u2019t erase what your company did. How about a very public apology to Frank Somerville for taking him off the air? We stand with Frank— MCoLa707 (@MCoLa707) 1632633605
Well you see this way they get to spin it as if this is just something that "advocates for missing people of color" are questioning while not having to address or acknowledge thier own role in perpetrating it.— Spoon(\ud83d\udd27\ud83d\udd2a\ud83c\udff4) (@Spoon(\ud83d\udd27\ud83d\udd2a\ud83c\udff4)) 1632692937
And fire the mgmt that thought firing him was acceptable.— juleebeane (@juleebeane) 1632789789
None of this is to say it's wrong to report on Petito's disappearance or search for her killer.
But BIPOC are asking news media to do the same for others and to not punish employees who try to tip the balance.
And it could start by giving Somerville his job back and let him do a deeper piece on the subject.