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:

• Ottawa union bargaining results may reverberate across Postmedia [J-Source]
• This Mag launches a national talk series [Canadian Magazines]
• CMG steps up fight for fairness in factual TV [CWA Canada]
• Bargaining at Postmedia awaits outcome of Ottawa vote [CWA Canada]
• Growing number of professionals face job insecurity, study finds [The Star]
• Will people pay for hyper-local news? [J-Source]

From The U.S. and beyond:

• How to Make More Money as a Freelance Writer [The Write Life]
• Erica Hayasaki on how to leave the newsroom and kill it as a freelancer [Nieman Storyboard]
• Freelancers Union is launching a hub for freelancers in NYC [Freelancers Union]
• The new freelancer: What it means to work in the gig economy in 2018 [The Freelancer]
• Do you need a science degree to be a science reporter? [Open Notebook]
• 6 tips to help you deal with rejection from editors [Mediabistro]
• Why time is the most valuable natural resource [Freelancers Union]
• The lazy trope of the unethical female journalist [The Atlantic]
• Before the ‘zero draft’ comes the ‘sub-zero draft’ — even a napkin will do [Poynter]
• European journalists stand in solidarity with US journalists [European Federation of Journalists]
• Freelancers aren't protected by equal employment laws. So what should they do when they face discrimination? [Quartz at Work]

Recently on Story Board:

• Vancouver freelancer social night September 6: Vancouver-area freelancers, summer is coming to a close and soon it’ll be time to buckle back down to a regular work schedule. But before you get serious for the fall, come out to a casual social evening on Thursday, September 6 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Central City Brewpub...
• CMG Freelance is now on LinkedIn! If you use LinkedIn to promote and grow your freelance business, we’d love to connect with you there. CMG Freelance now has a company page on LinkedIn, where we’ll be publishing Story Board posts as well as other posts of interest to independent media, creative, knowledge, IT and communications professionals...

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.