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18 January 2012 | Financial Times

Bertelsmann ventures into online education

Bertelsmann is making its long-awaited foray into education as anchor-investor in a USD 100m fund that aims to form partnerships with universities and vocational schools to offer online study and other types of courses worldwide. The German media group has put USD 50m into University Ventures, run by a group of US private-equity specialists who hope to tap a growing market through six to 10 joint ventures with European and US higher-education institutions over five years. The investment is small, but Bertelsmann deems the move potentially groundbreaking as it could eventually add a new-media business that capitalises on the possibilities of the web to its old-media interests. These range from RTL television to Random House books and are still grappling with the structural changes brought by the internet. People briefed on the deal, which will be announced soon, said it had much in common with the 2009 BMG music-rights joint venture with KKR private equity. That move has given Bertelsmann the chance to re-emerge as a big music publisher through a modest investment in a highly scaleable business designed for the internet-age.

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18 January 2012 | Reuters

China to expand registration rules for microblog users

China will expand real-name registration for microblog users, the government's propaganda and information arm said on Wednesday, in its latest step to better control China's wildly popular Twitter-like websites. The Beijing city government said in December it would tighten control over microblogs, which have vexed authorities with rapid dissemination of news. The government said it would give users three months to register with their real names or face legal consequences. Other major cities followed suit. "Currently, this type of registration is being tested in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, and we will extend it to other areas once the pilot programs prove successful," Wang Chen, minister in charge of the State Council Information Office (SCIO), told reporters in Beijing. Wang said name verification will be standard for new users of microblogs, such as Sina's Weibo, which allow users to issue short messages of opinion - a maximum of 140 Chinese characters - that can course through chains of followers who receive messages instantly. Existing users will be required to register later, he said. China has more than 300 million registered microbloggers, although many people have more than one account.

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18 January 2012 | Knight Center

Wikipedia, hundreds of websites to go dark Wednesday in protest of anti-piracy bills in U.S. congres

In protest of two Congressional bills that critics contend amount to censorship of the Internet, Wikipedia announced that it will go dark on Wednesday Jan. 18, reported The New York Times. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) in the Senate are aimed at curbing online companies' unauthorized use of copyrighted material by requiring search engines and Internet providers to prohibit access to websites containing pirated content. Opponents have voiced concerns that the proposals are a violation of the First Amendment. ABC News offers an explanation of the controversial bills and the movement against them. Hundreds of websites, including Mozilla, Reddit, WordPress and Boing Boing, have said they will participate in the 24-hour SOPA Strike, reported the Los Angeles Times, shutting down their websites Wednesday in protest. While Twitter has been a vocal opponent of the two bills, and speculation abounded that it, too, would go dark, on Monday Twitter said it will not participate in the blackout, reported the WashingtonPost. Google is offering its own form of protest to the anti-piracy bills by planning to place a link at the top of its homepage highlighting its opposition to the measures, according to Bloomberg. The Online News Association and the American Society of News Editors have come out in opposition to the bills.

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18 January 2012 | Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union

News Corp expands in Central Asia, Middle East with Moby stake

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is to become a minority investor in the Dubai-based Moby Group, which counts a TV network in Afghanistan among its integrated media assets, rapidtvnews.com reports. The two companies are already partners in the Farsi-language venture Broadcast Middle East (BME). Under the new agreement, News Corp will contribute its 50 percent stake in BME for a stake instead in the Moby Group, and also provide growth capital for Moby to realise its expansion plans. BME operates two Farsi-language channels, Farsi1 and Zemzemeh, which it claims now command a 45 million-strong Farsi speaking audience across Central Asia and the Middle East. Following the arrangement, BME will become a wholly-owned Moby subsidiary, with its current chief executive Zaid Mohseni continuing in his role. Saad Mohseni will remain as the chairman of Moby Group. Moby’s brands in Afghanistan include Tolo TV, Lemar TV, Arman FM, Arakozia FM, Afghan Scene Magazine, Tolonews and Kaboora Production.

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18 January 2012 | Prensa Latina via Media Network

Ecuador starts radio broadcasts in Amazonian languages

The Ecuadorian government on Monday started installing antennas and test radios and frequency bands distributed so far to broadcast through the Network of Radios of the Nationalities to help some 200,000 Amazonian indigenous peoples to preserve their native languages. Broadcasts for the fourteen nationalities registered - Achuar, Andoa, Awa, Chachi, Cofan, Kichwas, Zapara, Shiwiar, Shuar, Siona, Tsachila, Waorani, and the Association of Indigenous Communities of Arajuno - will help develop their culture and boost exchange among people in the protected region. Jeanneth Sosa, Communication Consultant from the Secretariat of People, said all antennas must be installed in the first semester of the year. She added that local youth are being trained to work on the project.

Original source

18 January 2012 | Editor and Publisher

Volunteers bring historic Hawaiian language newspapers to the Internet

Hawaiian nonprofit organization Awaiaulu, Inc. is in the midst of a massive translation project fueled by history, newspapers, and volunteers, that aims to bridge the gap between Hawaii’s past and present. About 100 Hawaiian-language newspapers published from 1834 to 1948 are being translated by roughly 3,000 volunteers. The newspapers are currently housed in Hawaiian archival collections as originals and microfilmed images, but when the project is finished, more than 60,000 pages of daily life in the Hawaiian Kingdom will be available for viewing on the Internet. The ambitious project is titled ‘Ike Ku‘oko‘a, or Liberating Knowledge. The entire volunteer effort will be managed online using a Web-based program, allowing interested individuals to download the files and participate from remote locations. Volunteers are not required to know the Hawaiian language to participate. The completed project is scheduled to be available for online viewing beginning Nov. 28, 2012, to coincide with La Ku‘oko‘a, the Hawaiian Kingdom’s Independence Day.

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