Beloved Bay Area journalists and veteran news anchor for KTVU Fox News, Frank Somerville, was “suspended indefinitely” after an off-air disagreement with KTVU News management. It has been reported by several news outlets that the disagreement centers around U.S. media’s disproportionate coverage of tragedies involving young white women while ignoring similar cases involving black and Indigenous women. Frank was referring to massive national media attention of Gabby Petito, a 22 year-old Caucasian woman who was reported missing early September 2021. 

As KTVU was preparing an update on the Petito case, management reportedly declined Somerville’s request to include a 30-second tagline noting this lack of media attention for missing and murdered BIPOC. This disagreement resulted in Somerville being pulled from KTVU news and placed on indefinite suspension. 

Somerville and his wife are adoptive parents to a young Black girl and often highlight the injustices that his daughter and other POC face. He is a compassionate journalist that uses his platform to educate and spark meaningful conversations. We need him back on KTVU News.