Off The Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer Oct 6-13

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:

• Five reasons Aboriginal journalists are turning to crowdfunding [J-Source]
• CBC introduces bullying helpline for staff in wake of Ghomeshi scandal [Globe and Mail]
• Mohamed Fahmy departs Egypt to begin trip home to Canada [Globe and Mail]

From The U.S. and beyond:

• 9 Things Freelancers Should Do To Get Higher Rates [Fast Company]
• This Startup Will Piss Off Publishers—And Make Freelancers Happy [The Freelancer]
• Commentary: Corporate media’s lack of vision threatens photojournalism’s future [Poynter]
• The 9 Most Important Takeaways From Freelancers Union’s Annual Survey [The Freelancer]
• 30 cranky bits of wisdom on the craft of journalism [Poynter]
• Huffington Post Staffers Seeking to Unionize With Writers Guild [Variety]
• Al Jazeera America digital workers vote to go union [Poynter]
• Why Politicians Better Start Listening to Freelancers [Time]
• You Screwed Up. How Do You Get Your Client Back? [The Freelancer]
• Major TV networks sign onto freelancer safety compact [Poynter]

Last week on Story Board:

• John Vaillant on high-impact non-fiction writing: Master storyteller John Vaillant delivered a highly concentrated dose of non-fiction writing advice last weekend at a day-long workshop in Vancouver that was part of The Tyee’s fall Master Class series...
• SABEW Canada hosts talk with Kevin Delaney: Toronto-area business writers, SABEW Canada is hosting another event this month that you won’t want to miss...

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.