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:

• MLA Andrew Weaver Wins Libel Decision Against National Post [The Tyee]
• Layoffs and voluntary buyout program announced at Postmedia [J-Source]
• Postmedia cuts national writer jobs, offers newsroom buyouts [Globe and Mail]
• Freelancers fighting full copyright claim by non-profit media company [Rabble]
• How Internet journalists *can* organize [CMG]
• Egypt's jailing of Mohamed Fahmy: A timeline [Toronto Star]
• As Postmedia Withers, Is a Newspaper-less Vancouver Imminent? [The Tyee]

From The U.S. and beyond:

• 4 common productivity tips that are actually the worst [Mashable]
• 10 Apps That Will Make Any Freelancer More Creative [The Freelancer]
• The Most Important Skills You Need to Start a Writing Career [Lifehacker]
• Freelance vs. day job: Don't compromise just to pay the bills [Freelancers Union]
• How kill fees ruin writers, hurt magazines and destroy journalism [Scott Carney]
• How to find details that make a powerful story [Poynter]
• The Key to Keeping Clients Happy, Even When Delivering Bad News [The Write Life]
• Canadian media startups are watching the watchdogs [Al Jazeera]
• Financial Times agrees to pay all interns minimum wage for the first time [Press Gazette]

 

Last week on Story Board:

• The Born Freelancer on Striving for Perfection: I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the relationship between those ideas which inspire me most and the monumental task of transforming them into reality...
• Radio freelancers battle for copyright: In the two and a half years since I’ve been the editor of Story Board, I’ve posted all kinds of news and opinion pieces about negotiations and disputes over freelance contracts...
• Concerts in support of CBC planned for Ottawa and Montreal: Two citizen groups are holding concerts in support of CBC over the coming weeks...

 

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.