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 around the web:

• Productivity as a journalist [Cision Jobs]
• Everyone is admitting what they get paid to work in journalism [CJR]
• Save Journalism Project launches fundraiser to pay laid-off US reporters $2-a-word to write about media job cuts [Journalism.co.uk]
• 5 critical skills freelancers should master to get hired [Freelancers Union]
• Newsrooms not keeping up with changing demographics, study suggests [J-Source]
• Here’s All The Stuff Journalists Actually Need To Be Using LinkedIn For  [Journo Resources]
• Podcasts Freelancers Should Listen To [Freelance Writing Jobs]
• Rev slashes minimum pay for gig workers [OneZero]

Recently on Story Board:

• Balancing freelance work with creative projects: No matter how amazing the gig, over time everything becomes a job. At some point in my work life I had set aside my personal projects, not realizing it was those creative exercises that gave me drive and passion. I was relying on work to energize me but it was doing the opposite...

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.