Right of reply: Vince Marmara clarification on survey

The following is a reply sent to us by pollster Vince Marmara with reference to the article by Karl Azzopardi entitled Jurors’ targeting by survey could lead to mistrial over Yorgen Fenech acquittal, published on Wednesday 9 September.

The headline itself is already misleading and does not reflect the truth. The article contains incorrect information, as well as allegations that do not reflect the facts as they occurred.

In particular, I refer to the following sentence: “MaltaToday is informed the recipients of the said poll may have been potential jurors on a publicised list by the state.”

As I already explained in my public statement of 6 September, the telephone numbers used in the research were generated randomly and were in no way selected or identified on the basis of any particular individual or group.

As I also stated in the same statement: “The research I conduct is never designed or carried out in a way that leads to the identification of any individual. On the contrary, any statistics or information that I provide to my clients are presented solely in aggregated format.”

Therefore, any implication that participants in the survey were “targeted” because they may have been potential jurors does not reflect the manner in which the sample for this research was selected.

I also refer to the following part of the article: “But Judge Edwina Grima fell short of asking Marmara to provide the phone numbers that were targeted in the poll.”

This part also requires clarification. The relevant authorities requested the necessary information from me in the context of their investigations, including the telephone numbers referred to above, and I cooperated fully and provided all the information requested from me.

I fully recognise the media’s right to report on and scrutinise matters of public interest. However, it is equally important that allegations of this nature are based on verified facts and that, where an individual is directly affected by such allegations, that person is given the

opportunity to have their position reported accurately. Just as we speak about the need to protect journalists in the exercise of their profession, professionals should likewise be protected in the exercise of theirs.