A WEATHERMAN took to Facebook to defend his actions after he was caught scrolling on his phone in the middle of a broadcast.
Nick Jansen, a weather reporter at NBC affiliate KTTC, was criticized for texting his wife while reporting on a severe thunderstorm that was about to hit the area.
Nick Jansen was criticized for looking down at his phone to text his wife while live on air[/caption]
Jansen said he is a husband and father first[/caption]
During the broadcast, Jansen could be seen looking down at his phone for 20 seconds as another broadcaster discussed the storm affecting Upstate New York.
“Sorry, I just had to text my wife,” he said as he looked up from his phone.
Jansen, 32, said he wanted to make sure his wife and baby were safely secured in the basement during the storm.
The meteorologist posted on Facebook, defending his actions.
“I don’t usually post things like this, but after nearly 3 hours of storm coverage Monday night, I wanted to share a quick thought,” he wrote on Facebook, attached to a clip of his coverage.
Jansen said he received an email from a colleague criticizing him for being unprofessional, writing: “That [Jansen] has to call his wife to make sure she takes the baby to safety?
“Maybe some people think it’s noble or cute. I don’t.”
The father said he was particularly struck by this one comment, mentioning that he takes his career seriously, but also takes his role as a father seriously.
“In the middle of severe weather, I decided to take a brief moment to make sure my wife and child were safely in the basement,” he wrote.
“That’s not me being unprofessional, it’s me being human.”
Jansen ended his post by saying that he’s a father first, and wanted to make sure that his family was okay before continuing his work.
I don’t think it’s acceptable that I can’t take a second to make sure my loved ones are OK,” Jansen told Today.
“I’m sure a lot of viewers were texting their families. And we always say on-air, ‘If you know someone in such-and-such a town, make sure to let them know this is coming.’
“So I was kind of taking my own advice.”
Nick Jansen’s full statement
Jansen posted on Facebook:
I don’t usually post things like this, but after nearly 3 hours of storm coverage Monday night, I wanted to share a quick thought. I received an email telling me how unprofessional I was during my coverage. The quote that really struck me: “That he has to call his wife to make sure she takes the baby to safety? Maybe some people think it’s noble or cute. I don’t”. – I posted the video of the act attached.
I take my job and your safety very seriously. But I’m also a husband and a father. In the middle of severe weather, I decided to take a brief moment to make sure my wife and child were safely in the basement. That’s not me being unprofessional, it’s me being human. I am a husband and a father FIRST. Let’s all try to show each other a little more understanding and respect in life. 
Facebook users were quick to support Jansen’s actions, with over 300,000 reacting to his post.
“If I were the wife at home alone with a baby, and my husband wasn’t going to be there, I’d appreciate a 23 second text message too,” one woman wrote.
“And when it’s Gail force winds in the middle of the night, who cares if professionalism is on point?! I tuned in to get live updates on the weather. And that’s exactly what we all got.”
Others saw Jansen texting his family as a warning about just how bad the winds were going to be.
“That was seconds and when I was watching it was helpful to know that if you told your wife to wake the baby and seek shelter then it must be serious and it made me feel validated and not so bad for waking my baby and doing the same,” one commenter wrote.
“KTTC knows that when our meteorologists, anchors and reporters are delivering the news, they are also talking to their own families- informing them and helping to keep them safe,” KTTC vice president and general manager Stephanie Hendrick said in a statement.
“In this case, viewers saw that happen live — Nick being a good husband and dad by taking a moment and making sure they were safe.”
