Responding to a phone call conveying bad news (9)
I believe the answer is:
answering
'responding' is the definition.
(answering is a kind of responding)
'a phone call conveying bad news' is the wordplay.
'phone call' becomes 'ring' (I've seen this in other clues).
'conveying' indicates putting letters inside.
'bad' indicates an anagram.
'a'+'ring'='aring'
'news' with letters rearranged gives 'nswe'.
'aring' placed around 'nswe' is 'ANSWERING'.
'to' is the link.
(Other definitions for answering that I've seen before include "Responding" , "Acknowledging" , "Replying" , "Picking up receiver" .)