Off The Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer May 12-19

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:

• CWA Canada releases project on media worker rights and labour reporting [J-Source]
• CMG members produce guide to working in factual TV [CMG]
• Mohamed Fahmy sues Al Jazeera for $100M [Toronto Star]
• Hakai Magazine looks to make waves worldwide [J-Source]

From The U.S. and beyond:

• No One Can Agree on the Ideal Length of a Pitch, so Here's How to Figure It Out [The Freelancer]
• The skills you should have to be a successful remote worker [Lifehacker]
• 3 Questions Every Freelancer Needs to Answer Before Sending a Pitch [The Freelancer]
• Is the self-publishing stigma fading? [The Guardian]
• 6 Ways Writing for Online Is Different Than Print [Contently]
• How to live through a short-term financial crisis [Freelancers Union]
• Taking the leap: freelancing in your 50s and beyond [Freelancers Union]

Last week on Story Board:

• Forum Freelance Fund announces new bursary: The Forum Freelance Fund has added a new bursary this year. The fund, which awards bursaries to freelance journalists for hazardous environment safety training, has created the Portenier Human Rights Bursary, a bursary of up to $3000 for freelancers and independent documentary makers whose work focuses specifically on human rights abuses...
• New tools for freelancers: What freelancer doesn’t love a new app or tool that promises to improve their business? I’ve run across a couple over the past few weeks. As a bonus, these ones are fun to play with...

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.