Responding to a phone call about disturbing news (9)
I believe the answer is:
answering
'responding' is the definition.
('answer' can be a synonym of 'respond')
'a phone call about disturbing news' is the wordplay.
'phone call' becomes 'ring' (I've seen this in other clues).
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'disturbing' indicates anagramming the letters (I've seen this in other clues).
'a'+'ring'='aring'
'news' with letters rearranged gives 'nswe'.
'aring' placed around 'nswe' is 'ANSWERING'.
'to' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for answering that I've seen before include "Responding" , "Acknowledging" , "Picking up receiver" , "Replying" .)