Once a week, we gather stories about the media business, journalism, writing, publishing, and freelancing—with a Canadian focus—and share them in Off the Wire. Who needs a water cooler?

From Canada:

• Advertisers buy 'great ideas': CAJ magazine panelist [Masthead]
• And the 35th anniversary National Magazine Award nominees are… [National Magazine Awards Foundation blog]
• Will the last book blogger in Canada please turn off the lights? [National Post / Afterword]
• Winners and runners-up announced for 2011 National Newspaper Awards [National Newspaper Awards blog] (via @jsource)
• CBC issues redundancy notice to senior legal counsel Danny Henry [J-Source]
• Freedom of the press in Canada [Ottawa Citizen]
• A sour end for Sweetspot.ca [Toronto Standard]

From the U.S. and beyond:

• How Assignmint will change freelance journalism [Fast Company]
• Sky News to enter United States and Canada via Livestation [Sky Press Office] (via @mediagazer)
• Yesterday The Boston Globe ended all your tomorrows [Nieman Journalism Lab] (via @natalieturvey)
• File under 'A Bit of Fun': #realtalk from your editor
• On Press Freedom Day: UNESCO remembers assassinated journalists [UNESCO.org] (via @UN)
• Demand and Google leave farm fight behind with “premium” YouTube channels [paidContent] (via @pipwestother)
• Are women’s magazines the key to nurturing more women writers? [Jezebel]
• Nearly 100% of publishers have seen e-booksellers get their metadata wrong [Digital Book World] (via @mediagazer)
• Arianna Huffington's role at AOL narrowed to focus on Huffington Post [The Hollywood Reporter] (via @romenesko)

From Story Board last week:

• New York State considers legislation to help freelancers with deadbeat clients: When an unpaid invoice is gathering dust, and numerous emails, phone calls, threatening letters and even “F*ck you. Pay me” hasn’t worked, where is a jilted freelancer to turn? Our friends south of the border are hoping that they can turn to their government for backup, reports the Star.
• Signer beware: Libel clauses in some freelance contracts leave writers holding the bag: Clauses that make writers wholly responsible for defamatory language in magazine articles have been popping up in freelance contracts for a while now. Last fall, we mentioned that The Grid, owned by Torstar Corp., was distributing new freelance agreements with clauses that could leave writers exposed to counter-suits in the event a libel suit was filed against the publisher in relation to their work [...] Recently, another similar clause in a Master Author Agreement from Canada Wide Media Ltd. — publisher of Alberta Home, BC Business, and Real Golf, among other titles — was brought to our attention.

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Spot a story you think we should include in next week's Off the Wire? Email the link to editor@thestoryboard.ca.

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