NBC 5 apologizes for not interrupting Cowboys coverage for tornado warning
NBC Channel 5 news station apologized Monday for not interrupting coverage of the Dallas Cowboys game with a tornado warning Sunday night.
An EF-3 tornado hit Dallas on Sunday evening and caused substantial damage at about 9:15 p.m. NBC 5 was broadcasting the Dallas Cowboys game and did not interrupt programming when a tornado warning was issued for the area.
Some said they received no warning of the tornado because they were watching the game.
Dennis Martinez told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram he was watching the game at home when “all of the sudden” the sky fell on them.
“We got a warning on our cellphones but that was it,” Martinez said.
NBC 5 issues this statement Monday:
“During Sunday night’s Dallas Cowboys game, we made a mistake by not immediately interrupting the football game with a Tornado Warning.
Although our meteorologists were tracking thunderstorms across the area when the National Weather Service issued a Tornado Warning for Dallas County, we delayed breaking into programming for six minutes.
Our meteorologists were also streaming live weather coverage throughout the evening on our site, NBCDFW.com. We also alerted the football audience to our weather livestream throughout the game.
When it comes to dealing with severe weather, we know that seconds matter. We should have broken into football programming sooner. We apologize and want you to know that we’re doing everything in our power to make sure this does not happen again.
We look forward to regaining your trust, and anyone who we may have disappointed.”
This story was originally published October 21, 2019 at 6:26 PM.
