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:

• Ryerson Review of Journalism cutting down to single annual issue effective immediately [J-Source]
• Layoffs, outsourcing and a byline strike: A roundup of news from the Toronto Star [J-Source]
• Writers' rights: TC Media and the Atlantic raise ire [Masthead]
• Q&A: Robert Goyette on the way forward for Reader’s Digest [Masthead]
• Memo: Sun Media pay freeze [Steve Ladurantaye]
• Toronto Star To Outsource Editorial Jobs Amid 'Revenue Challenges' [Huff Post Canada]
• Star Layoff Memo [Steve Ladurantaye] (via @mason_chris)
• L'AJIQ s'insurge contre le nouveau contrat de TC Media [AJIQ]

 

From the U.S. and beyond:

• Kill Your Darlings: Five Rules for Writers [LinkedIn] (via @LuigiBenetton)
• Sure, write stuff for free. But write for yourself [Medium]
• Thayer accused of plagiarizing parts of article The Atlantic wanted to publish for free [Poynter]
• Authors are snubbing publishers and insisting on keeping e-book rights [WSJ] (via @AlisonGJ)
• Most everyone gets asked to write for free, only some people say yes [Poynter]
• The Future of Journalism: It's Time To Pick A Side [Pando Daily]
• A Day in the Life of a Digital Editor, 2013 [The Atlantic] (via @anndouglas)
• Atlantic case raises question: When does it make sense to write for free? [Poynter]
• Pay the Writers [Overland] (via @Lynn_Coady)
• The problem with online freelance journalism [Reuters]
• Nate Thayer vs. The Atlantic: ‘Exposure Doesn’t Feed My F*cking Children!’ [New York Magazine]
• A Day in the Life of a Freelance Journalist—2013 [Nate Thayer] (via @SusanDelacourt)
• Buffett, Newhouses, Murdoch on Forbes list of billionaires [Poynter]

 

From Story Board last week:

• Intellectual property lawyer responds to TC Media agreement: This week Story Board contacted Warren Sheffer – a Toronto lawyer who specializes in intellectual property and business law — to ask about some of the clauses in the new Transcontinental Media contributor agreement...
• Tips on freelancing abroad from NASH 75: As international news agencies close or make deep cuts to their international bureaus, working internationally has become more difficult for Canadians. But for freelancers, this change could in fact be an opportunity...
• An Open Letter to Transcontinental by Jay Teitel: Dear Transcontinental Media, In the past decade or so online theft of intellectual property has become not just a problem, but a cause celebre, with a lot of people who should know better claiming that all information belongs to everyone, gratis, and that appropriating a piece of writing a professional writer has executed, and then reproducing it for digital consumption, is not only a right, but impossible to stop anyway, and ergo it isn’t stealing. This is of course hogwash...

 

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.