![]() 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. Somerville later excused that saying he had mistakenly taken an Ambien before going on the air.īut he wouldn't be back on the air until August, and then within weeks, this controversy erupted behind the scenes about the Petito case. ![]() Earlier this year, Somerville disappeared from the air without explanation after a fairly strange Memorial Day Weekend broadcast in which he was slurring words and seemed unable to read the teleprompter. What Somerville did that was so wrong is less clear. He noted that his contract is up in January, so it seems like the management is just waiting that out. So, I'm assuming I've done my last newscast," Somerville said. "No one at the station - Fox/KTVU - has contacted me. Somerville spoke this morning to local media hound Rich Lieberman - who said Somerville was speaking to him exclusively but very quickly Somerville gave quotes to the Mercury News and the Chronicle - saying that he's all but certain he won't ever be at the anchor desk again at KTVU. KTVUs ever-popular Frank Somerville, who anchors the stations 5, 6 and 10 p.m.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 telling the press that he doesn't expect he'll be back at the station - and also, no one from the station or Fox has even bothered contacting him. After months of filling in for beloved, long-time anchor Frank Somerville on KTVU’s weeknight newscasts, Mike Mibach has officially been named as his replacement. newscasts, will be the first to tell you that he leads a rather ordinary life. The announcement from Fox Television Stations, which owns KTVU, says that Mibach was promoted to co-anchor, alongside Julie Haener, for the 5 p.m., 6 p.m., 10 p.m. newscasts, and that his duties start next week. He was expected to formally let viewers know about his promotion on “Mornings on 2” Thursday, said a spokesperson for Fox Television Stations. KTVU news director Amber Eikel praised Mibach in a news release, calling him a “dedicated storyteller who cares deeply about the community and our role as journalists in the Bay Area.” “It’s an absolute honor to be trusted to deliver stories in a way that continues the legacy of journalistic excellence for which KTVU has always been known.” “KTVU has been a part of my life for nearly five decades from growing up in the Bay Area as a viewer, and for the last 17 years as a reporter and anchor,” Mibach said in a statement.įormer KTVU anchor Frank Somerville anchors the five o’clock news at the KTVU studio on Tuesday, May 5, 2009, in Oakland, Calif. Somerville was off air for much of the summer of 2021, following his now-infamous newscast last May, when he repeatedly slurred and stumbled over his words and appeared to have trouble reading off the teleprompter. Somerville returned to anchoring duties until Sept. That night he pushed to add a brief commentary on racial inequity to the end of a news update about the disappearance of Gabby Petito, a young White woman and social media influencer whose disappearance and murder in Wyoming had attracted a firestorm of media coverage. Sources at the station said Eikel and editors didn’t think Somerville’s 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. ![]() ![]() After more than two months away from the anchor desk, KTVU anchor Frank Somerville returned to the air on Wednesday. In November, Somerville insisted he was right to push for the commentary, but he publicly apologized for all “the drama” because of the way it affected people who work at the station. The KTVU (Channel 2) news anchor has been on an extended leave of absence since early June when he slurred his speech during a late evening newscast and was quickly taken off the set. ![]() “All this drama isn’t good,” Somerville said. “I wish I could apologize to all of them in person. ![]()
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