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:

• Toronto Newspapers Fired a Bunch of People This Week [Toronto Standard] (via @sladurantaye)
• The issues facing Canadian University Press and how it intends to tackle them [J-Source]
• Scrambling for Profit, Media Slip 'Custom Content' into Mix [The Tyee] (via @luigibenetton)
• Stackhouse on Globe Books (via @sladurantaye)
• National Post nixes its weekend Toronto section [blogTO]
• Rising Above the Plateau: Mid-Career PD for Editors [EAC/ACR]
• Zoomer magazine launches "super site" [Canadian Magazines]

  From the U.S. and beyond:

• 30 Tips on How to Interview Like a Journalist [Spark Minute] (via @Sean_Rasmussen)
• Al Jazeera America Has Received More Than 8,000 Applications [BuzzFeed] (via @mediagazer)
• How brain science can make you a better writer [Poynter]
• Commenting threads: good, bad, or not at all. [Scientific American] (via @NiemanLab)
• YouTube Set to Introduce Paid Subscriptions This Spring [AdAge] (via @NiemanLab)
• How to write using the buddy system [Poynter]
• Public radio’s looooong-term strategy: Have more babies, listeners [Poynter]
• Most newspaper stories are still too long [Newsosaur] (via @mathewi)

 

From Story Board last week:

• Vine as a tool for journalists: There’s been a lot of excitement this week about Twitter’s brand new micro-video app, Vine. Although much of the buzz so far has been about Vine’s seedier side, there’s also been some discussion about its usefulness to journalists...
• The Born Freelancer Looks into Self-Publishing: What freelancer has not dreamed the dream of self-publishing…. we think, oh, I won’t have the hassle of dealing with an indifferent publisher any more, I’ll just write my book and publish it myself and I will be free to carry on writing other books without any more interference or complications. Well, the reality of self-publishing turns out to be quite different from those lofty expectations. It involves a lot more time and a lot more work spent in ways most of us would never have suspected...