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Charlotte Amalie
Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeCommentaryOpen forumJournalistic Ethics Are Called into Question

Journalistic Ethics Are Called into Question

Dear Source:
It is with a sense of great disappointment that I am compelled to write to refute careless, outlandish and completely false statements that have been attributed to me and published on a blog / web site fronting itself as a legitimate news gathering organization.
The post by a person, posing as a journalist, contains material which I reported to the public during a broadcast news briefing on storm restoration, but goes on to add material that was not part of the news briefing and was not factual. At no time did I suggest that the people of St. Croix should have more patience as it relates to the time the restoration efforts from Tropical Storm Erika have taken. These published statements are carelessly fabricated quotes and outright lies.
At no time did I speak to this person about the restoration on St. Croix, and no other representative of WAPA has had any conversation with this person or so-called news organization. The author, who now lives on St. Croix, has posed as a journalist in the territory for over 20 years, and in every instance his tenure at each media outlet has been short-lived. Clearly, there is an issue with both his credibility and his journalistic ethics.
A person posting a blog which contains no contact information to speak to the reporter for clarification, correction or submission of material cannot be considered a credible journalist. There are no telephone listings and no e-mail contact for this individual or for his blog. This alone should be an eye-opener as to the quality of reporting that one can expect from this blog and its author.
It is truly unfortunate that at a time when the lives of the people of the Virgin Islands, particularly the people of St. Croix, have been disrupted by the effects of a tropical storm, and at a time when WAPA is working diligently around the clock to restore electric service, that a person posing as a journalist would take to the Internet-based world and publish outright lies about me and about WAPA. This individual only seeks to spew venom throughout the community through the spread of lies. The author may be entitled to his opinion about me and about WAPA, but he is not entitled to make up his own facts.
Hugo V. Hodge Jr.
Executive Director / Chief Executive Officer of Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority
 

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