CWG’s Derek Finkle on Nino Ricci’s letter to the Globe

March 24, 2011 Editor Compensation digitalfreelance contractsfreelancer ratesgetting paidglobe and mailnewspaperstrouble spots

If you missed it yesterday, familiarize yourself with Nino Ricci's open letter to the Globe before reading on.We asked Derek Finkle, founder of the Canadian Writers Group, which represents independent writers, about typical compensation for freelance travel writing and whether it's common for dailies to leave an invoice unpaid for six months, as…

Toronto Standard aims to give web writers a fair shake

March 23, 2011 Editor Journalism digitalfreelancer ratestoronto standard

[caption id="attachment_592" align="alignnone" width="562" caption="Toronto Standard pre-tweets its own birth."][/caption]Launching April 7, Toronto Standard will join an already crowded field of sites presenting Toronto news. But rather than follow the recent trend of focusing on the hyper-local, the site plans to look outward, editorial director…

Nino Ricci gives the Globe a thrashing

March 23, 2011 Editor Journalism freelance contractsfreelancer ratesgetting paidglobe and mailnewspaperstrouble spots

In an open letter to the Globe posted on his own site, author Nino Ricci feigns concern for the paper's financial situation while castigating them for failing to pay him for a travel story published six months ago.Ricci, award-winning novelist and former president of PEN Canada, states in his letter that after the paper let him charge travel…

Freelance court interpreters take action (updated)

March 22, 2011 Editor Compensation collective actionfreelancer ratestrouble spots

In most cases, if a journalist makes an error, the consequences are little more than embarrassment and a correction. But court interpreters go to work knowing that their mistakes could send someone an innocent person to jail or set a guilty defendent free.It's a high-pressure role, and a group of freelance court interpreters in Ottawa say their…

So you want to publish a Kindle Single?

March 22, 2011 Editor Advice adviceamazonkindle singlesself-publishing

The description on Amazon's Kindle Publishing how-to page makes publishing a Kindle Single sound relatively simple: "Publishers interested in submitting their KDP-published short content for consideration as a Kindle Single should email kindle-singles@amazon.com with a description of the content, the ASIN of the title in the Kindle Store, and their…

Newspaper Guild-CWA advocating on behalf of unpaid HuffPo writers

March 17, 2011 Editor Compensation collective actiondigitalfreelancer rateshuffington postnewspaper guild-cwatrouble spots

Poynter.org has posted a press release from the Newspaper Guild-CWA in which it asks writers who contribute work to the Huffington Post for free to cease doing so until the company agrees to start compensating them.The Guild's request follows the Huffington's Post's recent $350 million buyout by AOL, and it's not the first call for change. They are…

Not all news jobs are created equal

March 16, 2011 Editor Journalism digitalhuffington postjobsnewspapers

[caption id="attachment_545" align="alignnone" width="598" caption="A screengrab from the State of the News Media Report's website."][/caption]The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, in its own words, a "a nonpartisan 'fact tank,'" released its State of the News Media Report for 2011, an attempt to evaluate the…

La Presse to go digital-only

March 14, 2011 Editor News digitalla pressenewspaperspublishing

In the face of declining print subscriptions and optimistic praise for digital publications such as The Daily, Montreal daily La Presse has announced it intends to move to an online-only format within three to five years. It will be the first major daily newspaper to carry out such a transition.As part of its multi-million-dollar "iPad plan," La…

Dave Greber Freelance Writers Awards go national

March 10, 2011 Editor Journalism awardssocial justice reporting

Mark your calendars: submissions open this Monday, March 14 for the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award. Originally open only to Calgary writers, those from anywhere in Canada may now apply for one of two $2,000 prizes. Awards are presented to a Canadian freelance writer who has a contract for publication of a non-fiction magazine article or book…

Massey College Press Club Night hosts Christie Blatchford

Search

Recent Posts