Longtime Cleveland meteorologist Mark Johnson is “no longer employed at WEWS,” Channel 5 reported the afternoon of May 9.
“News 5 wants to share with our viewers a change to our on-air staffing,” the station wrote in a news post on its website. “Meteorologist Mark Johnson is no longer employed at WEWS.”
Mark Johnson, Channel 5 meteorologist, is no longer employed by the station.
The brief news story did not include a reason for the separation or the nature of it, but included a statement from WEWS Vice President and General Manager Steve Weinstein:
“We want our audiences to know that News 5 and its parent company, Scripps, take protecting our audiences’ trust very seriously by requiring our employees to adhere to the highest ethical standards. We cannot provide further details, as this is a personnel matter.”
The story said the station’s “commitment to being the weather team Northeast Ohio turns to for safety and accuracy remains steadfast.”
The station will immediately conduct a search for Johnson’s replacement.
Johnson joined Channel 5 in November 1993, according to a page on the station’s website that has since been taken down.
“Mark is an award-winning meteorologist, having received coveted Emmy Awards for his weather forecasting,” the page read. “He was the first Cleveland forecaster with both the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and the National Weather Association (NWA) Seals of Approval.”
Robin Swoboda and Mark Johnson from Channel 5 news in Cleveland in 1998.
Johnson has yet to speak out about the separation. His only social media post on May 9 was on Facebook, where he posted a picture of a lightning bolt behind a tree. Dozens of people commented on the post to wish him well.
Contact reporter Jennifer Pignolet at jpignolet@thebeaconjournal.com, at 330-996-3216 or on Twitter @JenPignolet.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Channel 5 reports Meteorologist Mark Johnson ‘no longer employed’