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

From Canada:

• Postmedia continues its downward spiral [National Observer]
• Journalists need to understand the impact they have on others [J-Source]
• Community newspapers now eligible to compete for National Newspaper Awards [J-Source]
• Author incomes in steep decline [TWUC]

From The U.S. and beyond:

• Student Fellow Weekend 2018 Panel: On Pitching [Pulitzer Centre]
• Retainers: How to Get (And Keep) the Holy Grail of Freelancing [The Freelancer]
• How to land your first client: Marketing strategies that work [Freelancers Union]
• The clause freelance writers should fight to remove from their contracts [CJR]
• How to successfully pitch the New York Times (Or, well, anyone else) [Nieman Lab]

Recently on Story Board:

• Getting freelance work with the CBC: Freelancing for CBC isn’t as easy as it used to be, but there are still gigs to be found at the Mother Corp. The “Getting Work With the CBC” panel at the recent Level Up conference in Toronto offered some insights into just where to find it...

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.