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: 

• Union accuses Corus of punishing newly unionized workers [iPolitics]
• Canadian Hillman Prize now accepting submissions [J-Source]
• Canadian Online Publishing Awards announced [Canadian Magazines]
• What do we mean when we say "solutions media"? [J-Source]

From The U.S. and beyond:

• This is what you do if you want to start a new union [Vox]
• "Unsafe and just plan dirty": Women accuse Vice of "toxic" sexual-harassment culture [Daily Beast]
• "Fixing" the journalist-fixer relationship [Nieman Reports]
• Pantser or Planner? What Your Writing Style Says About You [The Write Life]
• The definitive guide to freelance payment terms [Freelancers Union]
• There is power in the union: The Writers Guild of America successfully negotiates concessions from Joe Ricketts after the closure of DNAinfo and Gothamist [Melville House]
• It’s not just a Hollywood problem: Freelancers and sexual harassment [Freelancers Union]
• I am a freelance journalist. Do I need to buy liability insurance? [CJR]
• The Freelance Writer’s Guide to Staying Sane During the Holidays [The Write Life]

Recently on Story Board:

• New webinars posted for members on CMG Freelance website: We’ve been inviting non-members to watch our CMG Freelance webinar series recently. But members get an extra benefit: access to archived webinars. That means you can watch them at your convenience whenever you like. We’ve posted a few new ones recently in the members section of the CMG Freelance website...
• Want to make the most of Lynda.com? Check out their tutorials: If you’re a CMG Freelance member but haven’t yet accessed this valuable resource, you should check out Lynda’s series of video tutorials that demonstrate how best to use the video library...

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.