So, nothing like this happens again. Following Somervilles suspension, two rallies were held outside the KTVU studios in Jack London Square in October, both sparked by his reported desire to address disparities in media coverage of White crime victims like Petito versus women of color. He was off air for much of the summer, following his now-infamous May 30 newscast, when he repeatedly slurred and stumbled over his words and appeared to have trouble reading off the teleprompter. In wake of scandal, East Bay school district keeps a close eye on staff behavior The ABC News report also said that onlyabout one-fifth of missing person cases involving minorities are covered by the news, according to a 2016 analysis published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. Who is KTVU TV anchor Frank Somerville? | The US Sun In an interview with the Bay Area News Group published Friday, the celebrated former KTVU anchor confirmed that his former employer will not re-sign him and allegedly not because of his arrest. Off work, he enjoys playing in bands, busking and karaoke. But even with such declarations, community activists say they have yet to hear from the station managers or Fox about their concerns. And I guess thats the issue, isnt it?. Sources said he wanted to point out that the U.S. media often disproportionately covers tragedies involving young White women, while largely ignoring similar cases involving women of color and Indigenous people. 1 newscast in the market. But a shortened version of the tag made it into the script for that evening's broadcast, which allegedly prompted Somerville's suspension for insubordination. In a statement Thursday afternoon, Somervilles attorney Shannan Dugan acknowledged the charges. Before the 6 p.m. broadcast, a producer, not familiar with the earlier discussions between Somerville and Eikel, noticed that a shortened tag had been added to the Petito update. During a now-infamous May 30 newscast, he repeatedly slurred and stumbled over his words and appeared to have trouble reading off the teleprompter. KTVU again removes Frank Somerville from the air According to station sources, Somerville, 63, has been suspended indefinitely by Channel 2 management after a disagreement with news director Amber Eikel over coverage of the Gabby Petito homicide case. On Wednesday night's 6 o'clock broadcast, Heather Holmes anchored the show with Andre Senior, saying at the top of the hour, "Frank and Julie are off tonight.". Staff writer Harry Harris contributed to this report. Viral Kids' Star Ms. Rachel Is Taking a Break From Social Media After Backlash Over Co-Star Who Uses They/Them Pronouns, Actor Tom Sizemore, of Saving Private Ryan,' Dies at 61, Alex Murdaugh Sentenced to Life in Prison for Murder of Wife and Son, Los Gatos Mom Accused of Hosting Alcohol-Fueled Teen Parties Attacked in Jail, Hospitalized. [6], Somerville was an intern at KTVU in 1981, while attending San Francisco State. KTVU's "Ten O'Clock News" has long held the top spot for the Bay Area's highest rated news broadcast. The disagreement, said sources, occurred earlier in the week after the body of Petito was discovered in Wyoming. And the photo has since gone. Martin Reynolds, co-executive director for the Oakland-based Maynard Institute, which promotes diversity in Americas newsrooms, said Somervilles reported solution, to tack a commentary on at the end of a straight news story, would have been lazy, as opposed to assigning a full story on the topic. Neither Fox nor KTVU has made any official statement on the matter. Crime and Public Safety | The photo shows him with a beard and the caption: I think I look pretty cool for 63 if I do say so myself In response to a follower who said Somerville didnt look well, he said, I feel great. [5] He then attended San Francisco State University. Longtime Bay Area News Anchor Frank Somerville Charged With DUI He returned in August, but a month after, was suspended permanently following turmoil over the coverage of Gabby Petito, the missing van-lifer who was killed by her fiance Brian Laundrie in September. Since Somervilles suspension, two rallies have been held outside the KTVU studios in Jack London Square on Oct. 2 and and Oct. 12, both sparked by Somervilles reported desire to address disparities in media coverage of White crime victims like Petito versus women of color. Hes one of the highest paid anchors in the Bay Area, but his contract is up in March. frank somerville house While Somerville was attending San Francisco State University in 1981, he interned at KTVU. He took a nine-week leave to focus on his health and had only returned in August. Somerville was off the air for much of the summer following his now-infamous May 30 newscast, when he repeatedly slurred and stumbled over his words and appeared to have trouble reading off the teleprompter. KTVU suspended veteran anchor Frank Somerville after the station news director nixed his proposal to add commentary about racial justice to coverage of the Gabrielle "Gabby" Petito homicide . Visitation will be held on Monday, March 6th 2023 from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM at the Cusick Funeral Home (80 Mountain Ave, Somerville, NJ 08876). I feel great, he said in response. OAKLAND The Alameda County District Attorneys Office has filed two misdemeanor charges against former KTVU news anchor Frank Somerville in connection with his arrest late last year on suspicion of driving under the influence, authorities said. He believes that his automotive collision that happened the month before did not play a role, instead, he believes management had already decided to cut him loose months earlier. The request was denied by KTVU news director Amber Eikel, who called the tagline inappropriate, a source told SFGATE in September, leading to criticism from the Oakland chapter of the NAACP. She has previously reported or edited for Bay Area news and lifestyle publications, including Walnut Creek Patch, and Diablo, Oakland and Alameda magazines, as well as The Nation in Bangkok, Thailand and The Economist. "The Petito family certainly deserves answers and justice. The driver of the Audi stepped out before Somerville pushed the vehicle across the intersection with his car before ramming it into a light pole, according to documents provided to SFGATE by the district attorneys office. It should have been much more about stepping into the journalism and giving respect and honor to the issue and people youre purporting to be in service of.. [7], In June 2021, Somerville took a personal leave of absence from KTVU following an on-air incident during which he struggled to read the script for several stories and appeared to slur his words. Somerville, who has a mixed-race daughter, wanted to make a statement at the end of a segment regarding "missing white woman syndrome," a term coined by the late Gwen Ifill about American media's obsession with the disappearance of young, pretty Caucasian women, when very little national attention is given to the thousands of people of color who go missing every year. The local Fox affiliate has yet to comment on the incident, and as the Mercury News reported, Somerville has declined to respond to them for comment. According to a police statement in charging documents obtained Thursday, officers responded to Broadway and West Grand Avenue at about 8:20 p.m. Dec. 30, 2021 for a vehicle collision. An ABC News report,citing statistics from the FBIs National Crime Information Center stated that at the end of 2020, the FBI had more than 89,000 active missing person cases, and 45 percent of those were people of color. Now, the tagline controversy has put Somerville in a position that journalists usually find uncomfortable: instead of reporting on the story, he is the story. But the way this story captivated the nation has many wondering why not the same media attention when people of color go missing?" In related news, CNN is reckoning with its Petito coverage and just took up a local missing-persons case involving Arianna Fitts, a Bay Area girl who is black, and who went missing in 2016 at the age of 2. Somerville is the adoptive father of a Black teen daughter. Sources told the outlet that Somerville was informed by station management the next day that he was being suspended. Somerville reportedly told the producer that Eikel had approved a shortened version, a source said. Frank Somerville has spoken out for the first time since his Dec. 30 arrest for a suspected DUI. His next scheduled court appearance will be 9 a.m. May 6 at Oaklands Wiley Manuel courthouse, a district attorney spokesperson said. In 2008, he was elevated to one of the stations marquee positions when he was anointed co-anchor of the 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts, replacing 40-year veteran Dennis Richmond. Somerville did reply to local media commentator Rich Lieberman on Monday saying he'd be back on the air that night and that the incident was simply a mistake regarding his prescription medication. Theylearned that Somerville had been driving a 2014 Porsche east on West Grand when he rear-ended an Audi stopped at the intersection. The next day, Somerville was told he was suspended for defying a superiors orders, sources said. The longtime news anchor faced a rocky 2021. He was named as a person of interest in the case, and his remains were found in Florida last week. At the time, Somerville said he had not yet lined up offers to work at other stations but wanted to keep working and was disappointed about how his time at KTVU had ended. His last video was published March 31, voicing his perspective on the Will Smith slap at the Oscars and recounting anincident in which his wifes boss repeatedly harassed her. Jurors hopelessly deadlocked in Bay Point murder trial, mistrial declared KTVU's news division was infamously responsible for broadcasting the offensive fake names of the pilots of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 following a July 2013 crash at SFO, a mistake they blamed on the National Transportation Safety Board who, in turn, blamed a summer intern. These rallies were followed by the City of San Leandro issuing an official proclamation honoring Somerville "for speaking out about missing women of color and setting an example of strength and equity to our community and those worldwide.". Franqueville, Somme - Wikipedia Theyre the backbone of Channel 2. Leslie Shawn Rayburn posted this. The request was denied by KTVU news director Amber Eikel, who called the tag line inappropriate, according to the source. Look closely at this picture. According to Windham's statement, Somerville showed symptoms of being under the influence of alcohol when officers reached him. Frank Somerville said Tuesday that he expects he has anchored his last newscast at KTVU, given that management hasn't contacted him since he was suspended in September for an off-air dispute. The Berkeley native had been an intern at KTVU many years before. His name came after his father's friend, Frank Patty and his parental grandfather, William Somerville . A station spokesperson could not be reached as of Friday evening, and Eikel declined to comment. Longtime KTVU anchor Frank Somerville, who's been off the air since being suspended by management in September over a disagreement about the coverage of the Gabby Petito case, is speaking out and . A tag is a brief closing to a story thats typically read by an anchor. Frank Somerville says KTVU wouldn't re-sign him: 'I am done' More than a month after Frank Somerville was suspended from KTVU, the popular anchor remains off the air with no word from either him or the station about if or when he might return. He is a graduate of Bowie State University in Maryland with a BS degree in communications. As per his date of birth, his birth sign is Pisces. ContactGeorge Kelly at 408-859-5180. A picture of him styling his Black, adopted daughter's hair went viral on the Internet. Frank Somerville is an American journalist and three-time Emmy Award winner. Somerville, 63, won the awards at KTVU, which included an accolade for best on-camera news anchor. [8] He returned to the anchor chair on August 4 without addressing the incident that saw his brief departure. Longtime KTVU news anchor Frank Somerville was booked into jail early Friday morning for allegedly driving under the influence, after a car crash at a busy intersection in downtown Oakland. Sources at the station said news director Amber Eikel and editors didnt think Somervilles proposed tag, a brief closing the story, was an appropriate way to cover the issue and would blur the lines between an anchor delivering a straight news story and offering editorial commentary. This latest incident, coming just six weeks after Somervilles return to the anchor desk, will undoubtedly trigger speculation about his future with the station. Ive given my heart and soul to Channel 2. Somerville, a white male, is being lionized and becoming the topic of the story and not the women who have been ignored, Reynolds said. 3bd. Frank Somerville, a veteran TV newscaster suspended from KTVU following a dispute over coverage of the Gabby Petito homicide case, said Tuesday that he believes he is not returning to the station . Who is Frank Somerville? But as community groups voice frustration, questions also remain over Somervilles suspension. Somerville later excused that saying he had mistakenly taken an Ambien before going on the air. Frank Somerville's 31-year career at KTVU, where his nightly anchoring duties made him one of the Bay Area's most beloved TV news personalities, officially came to an end Friday, as his. Get the latest posts delivered right to your inbox. Meanwhile, Oakland police are awaiting the results of blood tests before turning the case over to Alameda County prosecutors to decide whether to file charges. I would give anything to work there. [5] He then attended San Francisco State University. Now, though, Somerville appears to be putting it out there that he's looking for a job. ), He disputed one comment that said he looked sick on a video he posted talking about an incident in which his daughter was allegedly racially profiled.