Off The Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer July 1-7

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: 

• Globe and Mail union fights for all journalists, including those in communities [Consider This] (via @jsourceinnovate)
• Shaw plans to apply for national all-news channel [Globe and Mail]
• After 6 decades, TV Guide Canada ends editorial content [Global News]
• Free weekly news magazine The Grid folds operations [Globe and Mail]
• The Grid is shutting down [Canadian Magazines]
• CBC plans massive staff cuts as it switches to mobile-first strategy [Globe and Mail]

 

From the U.S. and beyond:

• Byliner gone bad and the business of longform journalism on the web [GigaOM]
• The Move To Freelancing – Why Are We Giving Up The 9-5? [Career Foundry] 
• A new truth layer for the web [Poynter] (via @LuigiBenetton)
• My Secrets To Becoming A Successful Freelancer [Career Foundry]
• Why and How Freelancers Should Encrypt [Mediashift] (via @journochat)
• 10 essential self-taught journalism skills [Journalism.co.uk]
• Ira Glass's 'This American Life' leaves PRI [New York Times]
• Magazine launches outpace closures more than 3-to-1 in first half of 2014 [Canadian Magazines]

 

Last week on Story Board:

• Money in the bank -- tips for freelance accounting: Sometimes freelancers are too eager to jump into the thrill of the assignment without giving much thought to the business side of freelancing. It doesn’t have to be painful. The basics are simple: Track your work, get paid, pay your taxes, pay yourself. You just have to avoid making it a time suck... 
• Observations of a freelance writer/broadcaster at the NPAC Photojournalism Conference: While my friends and colleagues in the writing and broadcasting world were at the Toronto Canadian Media Guild conference this past May, I was in Vancouver manning a table at another media conference: The News Photographers Association of Canada (NPAC) Photojournalism Conference.

 

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.