The Integrated Media Association is compiling a directory of public media crowdsourced projects. Examples include WDET’s investigation into illegal trucking in neighborhoods of Detroit’s Mexicantown, WNYC’s map of plowed streets during a December 2010 blizzard, and WFIU’s tips for green living based on suggestions from viewers and listeners. Watch iMA’s Facebook page for details.

Georgia Public Broadcasting is part of a $4.6 million Knight Foundation project to strengthen local reporting that’s being announced today (Dec. 15). The Center for Collaborative Journalism at Mercer University in Macon, Ga., will bring together professional journalists from the local Telegraph newspaper and GPB Media staffers to help Mercer students learn and employ digital-age storytelling skills, the partners said in a statement. Plans are for the joint newsroom to also launch community engagement projects that will involve local residents in choosing issues to cover. Also, GPB Macon Radio will expand its news staff in Central Georgia over several years. The center will reside in Mercer Village, a new mixed-use development on campus where ground was broken today.

The Sponsorship Group for Public Television (SGPTV) is reporting that Nielsen National Television Index ratings for PBS Kids programs “have risen dramatically” over last season, and two new corporate sponsors have signed on. The group says that children’s shows have posted national ratings gains in nearly every demographic, including a 30 percent hike for kids ages 6 to 8. Curious George is the No. 1 program on any network for kids ages 2 to 5, and SuperWhy is No. 1 for kids under 3 — PBS Kids also holds the 2, 3, 4 and 5 spots for that demographic. In September, Stride Rite came on as a corporate underwriter for Curious George; and Age of Learning Inc.,

Susan Soto, a former staffer of KAET-TV in Phoenix for nearly 21 years, died Dec. 11. She first worked as an advertising specialist, according to the station, now called Eight, Arizona PBS. Her role grew to include public relations and special events. “One memorable “Are You Being Served?” event required her to ‘mind’ the notorious [actor] John Inman, find a tiara and wrangle a Mrs. Slocombe look-alike contest,” the station said in a statement. Soto also “was one of the first people at Eight to recognize the potential of the Internet,” the station said. On her own time, she learned the early technology and went on to earn a master’s degree in educational technology.

The Knight Foundation has awarded NPR with a $1.5 million grant to expand its digital training in pubradio newsrooms, it announced today (Dec. 14). A statement said the support will provide for development of a training program for more than 70 local pubradio stations. The $1.5 million investment bolsters a Knight grant in 2007, which trained hundreds of NPR journalists in the use of digital platforms and reporting techniques. Knight cited an independent review that found that the $1.5 million grant in 2007 resulted in “a positive shift in individual and institutional attitudes toward digital news.” The Knight Foundation has invested $5.4 million in NPR since 1992.

BBC World, the British broadcaster’s 24-hour international news channel, will be available via Comcast by the end of the year in several major American markets. In preparation for its foray into the marketplace, the New York Times notes, the BBC added about a dozen staff members to its Washington bureau — including former NPR News head Dick Meyer to oversee news coverage in the Americas. BBC Director of Global News Peter Horrocks called the agreement an “important breakthrough.” The channel will be available to Comcast Xfinity subscribers in Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Portland, Michigan, western New England and Northern California, with other markets coming next year.

Erica Wilson, who helped popularize needlepoint arts in the 1970s through her show on PBS, died Tuesday (Dec. 13) at age 83, reports the New York Times.  According to producing station WGBH’s archives, Erica ran 1971-73. “Erica Wilson, noted American authority on needlework, invites the viewer to explore the exciting possibilities of indulging his creative and artistic talents,” the description notes. “In this series of color videotaped 15-minute programs she illustrates the wide vocabulary of stitches used in many types of embroidery including traditional crewel, needlepoint, bargello, and crewel point. As well as demonstrating these stitches, Erica gives professional hints on creating useful and decorative objects.

The GOP version of spectrum auction legislation passed the House on Tuesday (Dec. 13) as part of the payroll tax extension package, but that looks destined for a presidential veto. Meanwhile, reports Broadcasting & Cable, Federal Communications Commission Chair Julius Genachowski said he is concerned with parts of the bill that could “tie the agency’s hands in ways that could be counterproductive.” He didn’t reveal which sections, but the proposed legislation would limit the FCC’s ability to decide who gets to bid on spectrum.

In part one of a three-part look at audience measurement ratings, TVNewsCheck interviews the chair of the Media Rating Council, Billy McDowell, who says of Nielsen diaries: “They’re still trying to figure out the diary markets. They’re working on a lot of improvements, some that we have suggested, some they’re doing entirely on their own. I know that sample size is an issue there as well. They have been public about their set-top box initiatives and we will see where it all goes.” Part two examines Rentrak’s growing influence in the ratings game, and part three focuses on a two-year-old dispute over local broadcasters wanting credit for viewing of programs recorded on DVRs.

Milwaukee magazine takes an in-depth look at the tumultuous history leading up to the proposed merger between Milwaukee Public Television and its Friends group. In a nutshell: The Milwaukee Area Technical College, which runs channels 10 and 36, “has been at odds with the Friends group for more than a decade and wants to crush it.” Indeed, Current covered the controversy in October and November 1999. Ellis Bromberg, MPTV general manager, told the local Journal Sentinel that the merger negotiations are “amicable talks.” Friends board president David Stroik declined to comment — “but there is good reason for this,” Milwaukee magazine says.

Milwaukee Public Television is in “the final stages of merger talks” with the fundraising group MPTV Friends, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Over the years the nonprofit has raised around $100 million for public television in the city. Ellis Bromberg, MPTV g.m., told the paper the talks are “amicable,” adding, “I think both sides believe that this is the best in the long run for our station and our donors. We think so, and so do the Friends.” Under the agreement expected to be announced soon, more than half the Friends’ 19 employees would become MPTV staffers in its development department, and the others may receive severance.

Ten of the 12 public radio stations participating in the NPR-led Argo Project intend to continue reporting on their specialized topics when the blogging pilot ends this month. “[F]or some stations, it’s been an eye-opening experience in how original, web-native publishing can expand audiences in ways that repurposed radio content might not on its own,” reports Andrew Phelps of Nieman Lab. “At four of the 12 stations, their Argo blog drew monthly audiences bigger than every other part of their news sites combined.” Blogs published by California stations KQED and KPBS were top performers in the Argo Network, and both intend to keep reporting next year.

Fair use, the right to employ copyrighted material in certain situations without licensing it, is in resurgence after two dismal decades of widespread misinterpretation — and nowhere is the right getting more exercise than in public broadcasting. Public broadcasters have been leaders in asserting their rights appropriately, and can use them even more to advance public media in a participatory and digital era. As Peter Jaszi and I detail in our new book, Reclaiming Fair Use: How to Put Balance Back in Copyright (University of Chicago Press, 2011), media makers are recognizing fair use as an essential free-speech right at a time when the fundamental bargain between the public and copyright owners has become dangerously imbalanced in favor of rights holders.

There’s a new game in town — relatively new to public television, anyway. Blessed with digital multicast channels and eager to attract new viewers, PBS stations are finding success with high-school football and other sports as varied as NASCAR and Special Olympics on their schedules. Station execs concede that airing more sports can mean preempting PBS program staples — maybe exchanging Frontline for field goals. They can also face questions about the propriety of carrying women’s basketball in place of Washington Week in Review. Still, they insist, gains in viewer interest, the opportunity to promote other shows during game broadcasts, and the positive vibes of bringing communities together more than justify any inconvenience or criticism.

This year's Pipeline survey found projects planned, begun or completed about Francis Scott Key and Phil Ochs ... religious pilgrims and itinerant carnies ... Shakespeare and NASCAR ... Margaret Mitchell and Harper Lee ... Col. George Armstrong Custer and Joe Paterno ... Johann Bach and Freddie Fender ... aging brains and young multitaskers. Mark (Survivor) Burnett does a "reality" show for PBS about prime ministers' chefs, and David (Farmer's Wife) Sutherland gives us verite of an aspiring Sioux social worker. Ken Burns follows up on the Central Park jogger case and Ric Burns looks at the blood spilled by the Civil War and the bad blood that still remains.