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:

• Vivian Smith's "Outsiders Still" a hard look at Canadian newspapers' gender problem [J-Source]
• Freelance journalist alleges former Vancouver Olympic CEO defamed her [Globe and Mail]
• People's journalism under fire: Remembering Ali Mustafa [Rabble]

 

From The U.S. and beyond:

• What to do when your potential client pulls a disappearing act [Freelancers Union]
• The secrets to budgeting as a freelancer [The Next Web]
• Digital news consumers unlikely to pay for content and increasingly block ads [CJR]
• Is Gawker’s Unionization a Sign That Creative Workers Are Finally Realizing Their Worth? [The Nation]
• 5 Free Online Tools for Freelance Writers [Freelancers Union]
• Opinion: journalism companies are dead. Long live journalists. [Poynter]
• How to Market Yourself as a Freelance Writer: 4 Mistakes to Avoid [The Write Life]
• Ask a Freelancer: When Should I Start Turning Down New Assignments? [The Freelancer]
• At Gawker Media, New Economy Workers Strive to Form a New Kind of Union [New York Times]
• A union revolution at Gawker isn’t quite around the corner [Poynter]
• Pitching Advice for Student Journalists [Journalism.co.uk]

 

Last week on Story Board:

• The 5-Minute Freelancer Q&A #21 -- Ann Douglas: In this regular feature, Story Board asks Canadian writers to share a few details about their work habits and their strategies for navigating the ups and downs of freelance life...
• @crapwritinggigs Twitter account mocks low paying jobs for writers: $5 per post. $0.02 per word. It’s numbers like these that make a freelance writer’s heart sink. And there’s no shortage of jobs with this kind of rock bottom writing rate being advertised on the internet these days...

 

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