Off The Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer Nov 15-21

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:

• Canadian news outlet aims to shake up local journalism by only sourcing stories from its members [Journalism.co.uk]
• Democracy and the decline of newspapers [J-Source]
• New journalism award to honour workplace mental health reporting [J-Source]
• Canadian journalists push for ‘shield law’ to protect sources [Globe and Mail]
• How Vice News is going to get young people to watch a half hour newscast [J-Source]
• Announcing the NMAF Freelancer Support Fund [Magazine Awards]
• Canada’s criminal libel laws may threaten free speech [J-Source]

From The U.S. and beyond:

• 8 Steps for Writing a Compelling Profile Story [The Write Life]
• How to Gracefully Find (and Keep) a Writing Mentor [The Freelancer]
• “Journalists have an even heavier task ahead” [Nieman Reports]
• After Trump’s win, news organizations see a bump in subscriptions and donations [Nieman Lab]
• 5 Bad Writing Habits You Need to Break Now [Mediabistro]

Recently on Story Board:

• The 5-Minute Freelancer Q&A #33 -- J.B. MacKinnon: J.B. MacKinnon took the time to speak with Story Board recently to offer some advice on creating feature stories, staying alert while working, and navigating the current state of freelance writing...
• The Born Freelancer on Getting an Agent: One of the questions I hear most frequently is “Do I need an agent?” and if so, “How do I find a good one?”...

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.