Off The Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer February 12-18

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:

• OpenFile audit complete, contributors' payments to be resolved within weeks: Dinnick [J-Source]
• The Grid named one of the best-designed newspapers in the world [J-Source]
• What OpenFile owes [David Topping] (via @dtopping)
• Editors’ advice on surviving and thriving as a writer [Masthead]

 

From the U.S. and beyond:

• Reader’s Digest Is Bankrupt as Iconic Magazine Falters [Bloomberg] [via @romenesko)
• 5 reasons mobile will disrupt journalism like the Internet did a decade ago [Poynter]
• Bad PR: ‘Unpaid’ Freelancer Replaces Client’s Website with Angry Letter [Mediabistro]
• Jonah Lehrer apologizes, makes everyone angrier [Poynter]
• Jonah Lehrer: I Lied Because I’m Smart [Fishbowl NY]
• How can journalists negotiate for better salaries? [Poynter]
• Content farms and the ongoing democratization of journalism [GigaOM]
• BBC journalists to strike over job cuts: union [Reuters] (via @mediagazer)
• Jonah Lehrer earns $20,000 honorarium for talking about plagiarism at Knight lunch [Poynter]
• Look, you’re right, okay? But you’re also wrong. [PressThink] (via @jayrosen_nyu)

 

From Story Board last week:

• The 5-Minute Freelancer Q&A #7 – Guy Saddy: In this regular feature, Story Board asks Canadian writers to share a few details about their work habits and their strategies for navigating the ups and downs of freelance life...
• Join Story Board on Facebook: Want to get Story Board updates on Facebook? We can help you out with that. We’ve set up a Story Board Facebook forum for freelance-related discussion and support...

 

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.