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‘Race & Coronavirus: A Bay Area Conversation’ Airs Thursday, April 2, Live on KGO-TV San Francisco

‘Race & Coronavirus: A Bay Area Conversation’ Airs
Thursday, April 2 (4 P.M. PDT), Live on ABC7

Audience Members Are Invited to Interact With ABC7 News
and a Team of Experts Via the ABC7 Bay Area Facebook Page

Even before novel coronavirus became a pandemic, ABC7 News began reporting on Asian Americans experiencing hate crimes in the Bay Area.

San Francisco State University found a 50% rise in the number of news articles related to COVID-19 and anti-Asian discrimination between Feb. 9 and March 7. Lead researcher Russell Jeung, a professor of Asian American studies, said the figures represented “just the tip of the iceberg” because only the most egregious cases were likely to be reported by the media. 

To empower people with facts about coronavirus and to provide resources so viewers can take action, ABC7 News presents a one-hour virtual town hall hosted by ABC7 News anchors Kristen Sze and Dan Ashley. ABC7 News anchor Dion Lim will take audience questions live on Facebook throughout the show. 

Joined by both health and civil rights experts, ABC7’s panel of experts represents a diverse range of voices, from civil rights to education, community and culture, each of them working to help build a better Bay Area. 

The panel will be LIVE during the town hall, answering questions and giving guidance on COVID-19 and how to best deal with bigotry and hate crimes during this pandemic and beyond. Panel members include the following: 

• Aimee Allison, president of Democracy in Colo

• Zahra Billoo, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, San Francisco Bay Area

• Cynthia Choi, co-executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action

• Russell Jeung, professor of Asian American Studies, College of Ethnic Studies, San Francisco State University

• Jeff Yang, writer at The Wall Street Journal

Viewers are encouraged to submit their questions via comments on the ABC7 Bay Area Facebook and Instagram pages. Viewers can also stream the town hall on abc7news.com.

“Race & Coronavirus: A Bay Area Conversation” will air LIVE on ABC7/KGO-TV while viewers can simultaneously engage on Facebook.  

It will also be available live on abc7news.com, the ABC7 News app, the ABC7 News Bay Area YouTube channel and Apple News. 

Questions from the public will be incorporated into the broadcast through a social media monitor in the studio, where ABC7 News hosts will be without a studio audience. The panel of experts will join the conversation live via a private Zoom conference.

Questions for the panel can be submitted now on facebook.com/abc7news.

Media Relations
Tom Cibrowski
ABC7 President and General Manager
tom.cibrowski@abc.com

Media relations

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ABC7/KGO-TV Releases Emotionally Charged Documentary, ‘32 Seconds: A Deadly Night in Rome,’ Sunday, Feb. 23

Exclusive First Interviews With the Parents of Both Suspects and New Comments From Finnegan Elder and Gabriel Natale

‘32 Seconds: A Deadly Night in Rome’
Premieres Sunday, Feb. 23 (7 P.M. PST), on ABC7
Amazon Fire Customers Can See It First on Feb. 20

In a one-hour ABC7 Originals documentary, ABC7 News investigative journalist Dan Noyes breaks dramatic new information in the murder of an Italian Carabinieri in Rome, allegedly committed by two young men from the Bay Area—Finnegan Elder, 20, and Gabriel Natale, 19.

On July 26, 2019, Deputy Brigadier Mario Cerciello Rega, a member of the famed Italian Carabinieri paramilitary police force, was stabbed to death in what Italian police claim was a “drug deal gone bad.” Dan Noyes was the only local broadcast journalist on the ground at the crime scene in the heart of Rome. Now, after seven months of reporting, pouring over thousands of pages of reports, photos and surveillance camera images, Dan Noyes reveals exactly what happened that night. Was it really a drug deal gone wrong? Or just a horrible case of mistaken identity and self-defense?

Dan Noyes sat down for extensive interviews with the parents of the teens. Their words provide a rare glimpse into the lives of both families and reveal a series of tragic twists they believe led to the fateful night in Italy. The program also features exclusive and emotional new details from the accused teens as they sit in an Italian prison.

“I’ve stayed on the story since returning from Rome seven months ago, and can now reveal explosive new details and firsthand accounts of what happened,” says ABC7 News investigative journalist Dan Noyes. “The parents of both young men are breaking their silence and describing a phone call no parent wants to receive; their child went on vacation but wound up in prison overseas.”

“32 Seconds: A Deadly Night in Rome” will debut on Amazon Fire TV. It will also be available in its entirety on abc7news.com, the ABC7 News app, the ABC7 News Bay Area YouTube channel and Apple News.  Watch the trailer on abc7news.com.

“32 Seconds: A Deadly Night in Rome” is an ABC7 Originals production led by investigative journalist Dan Noyes and producer Ken Miguel. The ABC7 Originals team is led by executive producer Mariel Meyers.