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Statement from the Minister of Information, Broadcasting and Public Affairs, Senator The Honourable Lucille Moe, on the passing of Sir Anthony Bryan, K.A.

I wish to express my sadness at the passing of Sir Anthony Bryan, a known stalwart and pioneer in publishing and broadcasting.

In reviewing Sir Anthony’s record of business ventures in the 1970’s, there is a range of initiatives that affirm his penchant to lead and innovate.

Apart from having provided the first in-flight magazine on Caribbean Airways flights to Europe, Sir Anthony’s publishing company, Crown Caribbean Publications, created other magazines such as “Homemakers” and “Caribbean Traveller.”  

These too, were trend-setting achievements in the regional publishing market. Crown Caribbean also produced several books, including textbooks which were used by the University of the West Indies,

However, it is in journalism that Sir Anthony earned a most special profile when in 2000, he became the first black Barbadian to own the Barbados Advocate, the country’s oldest newspaper.

Sir Anthony will be remembered for various accomplishments and successes but perhaps for many one of the most instructive of these was his closure of what hehimself would have acknowledged to be a lucrative media product, that being the Weekend Investigator.

This publication did not conform to Sir Anthony’s values and ethic to uplift society. In this way, his commitment to corporate social responsibility whilst reversing the financial decline of the Advocate showed that it was possible to maintain standards in journalism on the path to creating a profit-making media house.

In addition, Sir Anthony’s achievements in newspaper publishing extended beyond Barbados as he took his drive and business leadership into Grenada where he founded the Grenada Advocate.

Media owners and operators in Barbados and indeed the Caribbean will no doubt draw inspiration from his legacy.

Apart from these trailblazing trajectories in publishing and journalism, Sir Anthony is also known in the broadcasting community as having been the first private owner of an FM station in Barbados, 90.7 FM. 

This station as well as Faith 102.1FM were both established by Sir Anthony’s company Barbados Broadcasting Service. They have been providing easy listening of familiar tracks and religious music and are yet another example of Sir Anthony’s entrepreneurial spirit.

The staff of the Ministry of Information, Broadcasting and Public Affairs join me in extending condolences to the family and friends of Sir Anthony. May he Rest in Peace.

Ministry of Information, Broadcasting and Public Affairs

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