Breezeblog

Meredith Ebbin - signing off

I was amused to be referred to as a “veteran journalist” in a farewell tribute to my good friend and Bermuda Sun journo Meredith Ebbin, who is retiring from reporting. But then again at almost 51 and having been in the business in one form or another for more than 30 years, what do I expect?!

Space prevented the Sun running my full quote about Meredith, so here it is:

“I’ve known Meredith as long as I have been on the Island (more than 25 years). She was working at the Gazette when I arrived here in December 1982 and we’ve been friends ever since.

“Meredith is able to combine a love of the history and parochial detail that makes Bermuda and its people such a fascinating place with an appreciation of the bigger picture outside the Island. As a result, there is a unique perspective, fairness and compassion in her writing.

“Over the last couple of years we’ve been working together on the Bermuda Biographies website which is a real labour of love on her part to ensure that Bermuda’s unsung heroes get their due recognition alongside the likes of Dr. Gordon and Jack Tucker. Through it I’ve learned a great deal from her about the selfless dedication of people like Millicent Neverson and Adele Tucker who were real heroes of education in segregated Bermuda.

“As a senior black woman journalist, Meredith is a role model in her own right. I wish there were more like her in the profession – there should be more black Bermudians in the business, period! Hopefully more will follow as a result of the work she has been doing to help establish an internationally-recognised journalism course at the college.

“She also has the loudest and most infectious laugh in Bermuda that always lifts my spirits – so I guess the Sun newsroom will be a quieter place without her!”

Meredith thankfully isn’t quitting writing all together – she will be working on the Bermuda Biographies site and is working on a special biographies project for Government to mark next year’s 400th anniversary of the Island’s settlement as well as contributing the occasional feature to the Sun.

I’m back from vacation in the sunny old UK … and am already ticked off with the online Olympic coverage.

As I don’t have time to spend days camped in front of the TV, I was hoping to be able to catch up with the action in selected video nuggets somewhere on the web. No such luck. Go to the video section on the official Games site and you first have to select your country. But even though every other competing nation seems to be listed, Bermuda is not so the obvious next choice is the US, as we get NBC coverage here. No luck again, as NBC requires you to enter a US address and cable provider and even if you lie, it won’t send video outside of the US. Same deal with the BBC – “not available in your territory” – and CBC in Canada doesn’t seem to have any Games video on its website.

And forget about YouTube too – it looks as though all the TV commpanies that have paid through the nose for exclsuive rights are enforcing those rigourously. Looks as though all you can view is Olympic ads.