New year, new beginnings... - 23 Jan 2012

We're heading to the end of January 2012 already and almost everybody should be back at work by now. With a new year, comes new beginnings.

In Zambia, Airtel launches its 3.75G platform in the country and promises significant changes to how subscribers can experience the web. The African Press Organisation announced a distribution agreement with global news and business information research tool, Dow Jones Factiva, which will see APO providing the global company with Africa-related news. The African Media Initiative and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers launched a strategic partnership to provide professional training and other forms of technical support to develop media businesses across the continent.

In other news, Malawian journalists are considering whether or not to boycott the president's press conferences, also know as 'press rallies', after journalists were threatened in November 2011 in which media had to seek protection from the police.

The International Criminal Court in the Hague, Netherlands, have confirmed charges against Joshua Arap Sang, a Kenyan radio broadcast journalist who was accused of establishing a network with the goal of gaining power in the Rift Valley Province by committing crimes against supporters of the Party of National Unity.

In our 2012 Biz Trends Report Series, Oresti Patricios, forecasts Media trends in Africa for 2012, while Deloitte reveals their 2012 media predictions and says that the 'catch up commuter' will become a force in the electronic market.

So while this is just the beginning of the year, it appears that this is the start of great things to come.

Here's to a great week!

Evan-Lee Courie (@evan1985)

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