VINO stands by Hispanic ‘vote buying’ story, plays tape with evidence!
ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI- On June 15, 2015 Virgin Islands News Online, known for its superior journalistic standards, professionalism and objectivity, published an article entitled: ‘EE Hispanic Family accuses NDP of trying to buy votes’.
The story was unsolicited as we were on three different occasions leading up to the June 8, 2015 general elections approached by a Nasreth O’Neal, who claimed she had evidence of persons in her community being offered money for votes and that she knew of a family who was willing to go on record.
However, because we were careful not to publish any story that could be deemed as an attempt to influence the outcome of the Virgin Islands’ election, our editorial board decided to wait until after the elections had concluded to take up Ms O’Neal’s offer. We did that in the spirit of our cemented professional and non-partisan practice.
We were therefore surprised to see the ridiculous claims by Ms O’Neal in an article on BVI Platinum News on June 18, 2015, suggesting that our story was misleading.
Her disingenuous story on BVI Platinum News was a response to our refusal to remove the story after her repeated calls to our Editor and even our Chairman of the Board of Directors of our parent company Advance Marketing and Professional Services about the pressure she was under after we published the accurate article.
The facts of the interview
1. First, from the tape of the interview you will realise clearly that the reporter identified himself as ‘Earl’ from Virgin Islands News Online (VINO). There was nowhere in the interview were he claimed to be a consultant from any political party, as unlike other news sites, VINO can proudly boast we are not associated with any political party;
2. Ms Nasreth O’Neal asked the reporter to meet her in East End by her place of business where she, without influence, took him to the home of Juan Carlos Vinzen, where a translator was also provided, as the VINO reporter is not Spanish speaking;
3. You will clearly hear on the tape of the interview where it was alleged that someone from the “red team” offered $50.00 for votes, however, the person speaking stated in the interview that the money was not enough. VINO’s article never said the money was taken but was offered, according to the family. This information was accurately reported in our story of June 15, 2015. In our obligation to be fair and balanced, and to hear both sides, the allegations were put to the Leader of the National Democratic Party (NDP) Premier Dr The Honourable D. Orlando Smith, which he strongly denied;
4. You will also hear from the tape interview how the family was critical of the NDP and spoke to how hard things had become with the high cost- from visas to hospital services- with no prompting from the reporter. At the end of the interview the VINO reporter requested a photo of the Vinzen family, which Ms O’Neal immediately offered to supply, even via whatsapp. You will note the photo was published in the VINO article of June 15, 2015;
5. Finally, you will hear from the interview that the reporter was the one offered a drink from Ms O’Neal as she now made an untruthful attempt in her interview with BVI Platinum News to claim that the family was offered a drink by the VINO Reporter.
VINO still no. 1!
It is always easy for VINO to stand by all of its stories time and time again, as you will note that after the dust has settled VINO always has the facts. This is because we practice professional journalism, and will continue to maintain the highest ethical standards that we have been praised for locally, regionally and internationally.
If others had taken a page from our book they would have at least called our news room or the Editor-in- Chief to solicit a comment on the false, slanderous and downright lies now being told by Ms Nasreth O’Neal in her own attempt to cover up what she and the Vinzen family told the VINO reporter.
We could not end without continuing to thank the thousands of readers who continue to inbox us with their pledge of overwhelming support, even from the Spanish/Hispanics community, the advertisers who continue to stand with us and the hard working reporters who remain passionate about high standards, professionalism and objective reporting.
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Please listen to audio tape of interview between the VINO Reporter and Ms O’Neal and the Vinzen family
http://www.virginislandsnewsonline.com/upload/resources/Interview_with_Hispanic_family.mp3
See link to related article:
http://www.virginislandsnewsonline.com/en/news/ee-hispanic-family-accuses-ndp-of-trying-to-buy-votes
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45 Responses to “VINO stands by Hispanic ‘vote buying’ story, plays tape with evidence!”
Your evidence is very hard to listen to..... You don't need a 20 minute clip of rambling, spanish speakingand loud background music to prove your point. Cut the clip down to the minute or two needed to defend yourself. On the other site, the man said he never made those statements, and the entire clip was 5 minutes max....
I heard JVD got paid!...restaurants where on ****ch's tab all day. He could have stopped world hunger if everyone knew about that tab!!
At least VINO call Dr. Smith about the alligations!! The blue site is making things bad for all media houses. The people cannot trust the media anymore, but thank god for VINO!!!
So they weren't really that upset by the proposed "bribe" for a vote, but more upset by the small amount offered - $50???