Somerville wanted to bring in context on domestic violence and coverage of it, according to the two station sources. Somerville sought to add the 46-second tag to the end of an update about Petito, who was slain during a cross-country van trip with her fiance, Brian Laundrie, whom authorities have identified as a "person of interest." Both are white. According to the two people, who were granted anonymity in accordance with The Chronicle's policy on confidential sources to discuss a sensitive personnel matter, the dispute at KTVU unfolded last Tuesday afternoon. The suspension was first reported by the San Jose Mercury News. A spokesperson for the station confirmed that Somerville, 63, who joined KTVU in 1991 and began co-anchoring the evening news in 2008, had been suspended "pending further review." It's not clear when he might return. The Chronicle reached out to several people at KTVU to discuss what happened last week before Somerville was disciplined, but no one, including Somerville and News Director Amber Eikel, would speak on the record. Authorities say a body discovered Sunday, Sept. ![]() The Somerville dispute, like the Petito case, has gone viral on social media, spurring outrage from people who see the national fever over the Wyoming homicide as an episode of "missing white woman syndrome," while dismaying some at KTVU, who viewed Somerville's purported defiance of his boss' decision as untenable. Petito, 22, vanished while on a cross-country trip in a converted camper van with her boyfriend. Somerville had initially sought to add a 46-second address to note disparities in media coverage of white and Black crime victims. 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 case and then saw that a shortened version of Somerville's verbal "tag" remained in a subsequent newscast's script, sources at the station told The Chronicle.
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