Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley
Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley has responded to recent local media coverage, stating that he often laments when news organisations misrepresent his statements.
The Premier made the comments during the April 30 airing of the Virgin Islands Voice programme, where he addressed a BVI News headline that he said misquoted him.
The headline in question, ‘Premier sees silver lining in cruise passenger decline,’ was not a direct quote, but rather a summarised phrase reflecting the content of the news story.
Nevertheless, the Premier took the opportunity to clarify his remarks about cruise arrivals.
“I sometimes lament some of the news organisations that unfortunately seek to misrepresent things that we say. I will take this opportunity to clear up something that someone brought to my attention. There’s a story saying that I saw a decline in cruise arrivals as a silver lining. I said no such thing,” Premier Wheatley stated.
“What I did say was that we want a tourism product that is balanced and the increase in overnight arrivals is welcome because we do want more of those and we perhaps want to just maintain where we are as it pertains to cruise passengers. We did have a slight decline in cruise passengers for 2025 but it was so slight that it was basically the same,” he added.
The Premier’s remarks come amid earlier comments advising the public to approach content from certain online platforms with caution. He suggested that some media outlets, including their comment sections, are being used to spread division within the community.
Although he did not name specific media organisations, the Premier has previously expressed concern about the tone and content on certain platforms.
Elected officials in the Virgin Islands have, at times, expressed a lack of trust in some online news sources. While some leaders state they avoid consuming content from these outlets, they frequently use public forums to clarify reports and respond to commentary published on such platforms.
Online news reports are also regularly cited by legislators during debates and discussions in the House of Assembly.
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