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There are presently three principal British Virgin Islands news websites publishing news focused upon current affairs in the Territory:
Contents
- BVI News
- Virgin Islands Platinum News
- Virgin Islands News Online
- Newspaper sites
- Press censorship
- References
Because the British Virgin Islands only has two newspapers (and those are both published weekly), and no full-time television station, online media has a comparatively stronger and more important presence in the British Virgin Islands.
Of the two functioning newspapers in the Territory (the BVI Beacon and the Island Sun) both maintain an online reporting presence. In the neighbouring United States Virgin Islands, the main daily, the Virgin Islands Daily News reports on major stories developing in the British islands.
All news sites in the Territory allow a great deal of latitude to the public to comment anonymously upon articles (referred to, slightly misleadingly, as "blogs" locally). In many instances the comments in response to an article may be more edifying that the article itself. In a community as small as the British Virgin Islands anonymous comments often indicate inside knowledge in relation news items, or serve as a vox populi in relation to developing stories.
BVI News
BVI News arguably has the highest profile of the three mainstream sites, and is not viewed as politically affiliated. It does not publish the names of any of its senior staff or journalists. The parent company of BVI News is Media Expressions Limited.
BVI News has an Alexa ranking of approximately 450,000, which makes it the most highly ranked news site in the British Virgin Islands by a narrow margin and the 9th most popular site overall. On SimilarWeb it is ranked as the 8th most popular website in the British Virgin Islands overall, and the highest ranked news website.
Economics commentator Dickson Igwe is a regular contributor to BVI News (although he also frequently contributes the same articles to the BVI Beacon in print).
Virgin Islands Platinum News
Virgin Islands Platinum News was originally named "BVI Platinum", and is often still referred to as such. Although the firm's website address reflects its original name, it now uses the Government approved national moniker. The news site is seen as pro-National Democratic Party, and anti-Virgin Islands Party.
The news sites present senior reporters are Melissa Edwards and Gordon French. Platinum News does not publish details of its ownership online, but the web address is registered to Platinum Investors Limited, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands.
BVI Platinum has an Alexa ranking of approximately 580,000 and is the 15th ranked website in the Territory. On SimilarWeb it is ranked as the 10th most popular website in the British Virgin Islands, and the lowest ranked news website.
In 2013 BVI Platinum was accused of breach of ethics by local politician Archibald Christian in relation to the publication of a leaked Government report.
Virgin Islands News Online
Virgin Islands News Online (often referred to simply as "VINO", or sometimes "the Yellow Site" or "the Esteeme Site"). It is alleged that the site is align with the political viewpoint of the Virgin Islands Party (VIP). There is open conflict between the news site and the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), because of the news sites frequent challenge of the polices of the NDP. VINO is also critical towards Police Commissioner David Morris. The website is associated with Julian Willock, who served from 2010 to 2012 as permanent secretary to Minister of Communications and Works.
The current Editor in Chief of VINO is Reuben J. A. Stoby, and the senior reporter is Nikolai J. Earle. According to its home page, VINO is owned by Advance Marketing and Professional Services. The domain name itself is registered in the name of an ownership privacy protection organisation.
Virgin Islands News Online has an Alexa ranking of approximately 470,000 making it the middle ranked online news website in the British Virgin Islands and 11th overall. On SimilarWeb it is ranked as the 9th most popular website in the British Virgin Islands, and again the middle ranked news website (one place behind BVI News).
VINO has been part of a number of controversies during its existence.
Newspaper sites
The two print newspapers' websites have a relatively low profile even within the British Virgin Islands. The website of the BVI Beacon is ranked on SimilarWeb as only the 286th most popular website in the Territory, and the Island Sun is ranked 977th.
Press censorship
From time there have been criticisms of the British Virgin Islands government in relation to allegations of press censorship. This may be a by-product of having much of the online news reporting originating from politically affiliated sources. Allegations of attempted press censorship have usually focused upon one of two concerns.
- The first relates to the controversial Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, 2014, which was criticised both within the British Virgin Islands and aboard as an attack on press freedom. Amendments to the legislation to permit "public interest" publication of information somewhat mollified those criticisms.
- The second area of criticism relates to unfulfilled promises to pass a Freedom of Information Act in the British Virgin Islands. Despite multiple promises to introduce such legislation, to date not even draft legislation has been issued for public consultation. The Government has blamed a busy legislative timetable.
Governments have increasingly been at pains to say that they have no intention of muzzling the press. External reviews consider that "The media enjoys freedom of the press and speech" in the Territory.