Off the Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer July 9–15 2012

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:

• Supreme Court copyright decision does not unleash a "free for all", says Access Copyright [Canadian Mags blog]
• The grey area of freelancers reusing their own work [J-Source]
• To the aspiring young journalists who ask: 'why j-school?' [J-Source]
• Take-away tips for freelancers [Masthead]

From the U.S. and beyond:

• Margaret Atwood on Wattpad and the value of taking risks [GigaOM] (via @mathewi)
• Could a co-op work for a news organization? Why the Banyan Project has faith in community backing [Nieman Lab]
• David Carr, newspaper writer, spells out newspapers’ doom [MediaBistro] (via @FishbowlNY)
• Raju Narisetti says free samples can lead to paid subscribers [Poynter]
• Chicago Tribune suspends use of Journatic after learning of plagiarized and fabricated sports story [JimRomenesko.com]
• Wikipedia parent to launch travel guide with Wikitravel rebels [Skift.com](via @mathewi)
• Women’s writing site She Writes launches book publishing division [PaidContent] (via @mediagazer)
• Journatic claims it was about to fire editorial head who resigned [Poynter]
• The newsonomics of good news about news [Nieman Lab]

From Story Board last week:

• The Born Freelancer asks: does spelling still count?: How important is correct spelling in today’s brave new world of tweeting, texting and the obsessive need to be “first with the news”?..
• Greetings from the new editor of Story Board: This is a tough time to be a freelancer. Let’s be honest: it seems like every single day there’s another discouraging report about the painful decline of traditional media. With newsroom layoffs, magazine closures, and budget cuts at CBC, paid work for writers appears to be dribbling away with increasing speed. But we should never forget that we also live in an era of possibility. New models for reporting and publishing are emerging from the turmoil of contemporary journalism. With stories in the news about new developments in ebooks and successful battles for digital rights, there are reasons to stay hopeful...

---

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

---