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:

• Broken Pencil magazine celebrates 20 years [Masthead]
• Evan Solomon back in political mix with new radio show on SiriusXM Canada, column in Maclean's [Globe and Mail]
• Secret negotiations trading away CBC [CMG]
• Evan Solomon lands new politics program on radio [Toronto Star]
• Tech startup aims to connect journalists with subject experts faster [J-Source]

From The U.S. and beyond:

• 10 Smart Freelancer Tips to Use Every Day [Design Shack]
• 5 free video editing apps for journalists [Journalism.co.uk]
• Writers at Vice Media vote to unionize [WSJ]
• New service helps freelance foreign correspondents find fixers in faraway places [Poynter]
• Getting Paid By the Pageview: Good or Bad for Freelance Writers? [The Write Life]
• Why it feels like you're always working (and how to fix it) [Freelancers Union]
• In America, only the rich can afford to write about poverty [The Guardian]
• These journalists are creating a freelance newsroom in Bushwick [Technically Brooklyn]
• How can we adequately fund independent journalism? [All Digitocracy]
• The Smarter Way to Set Freelance Writing Rates: Avoid Hourly Work [The Write Life]
• Journalists and hotel housekeepers: Why both need a union [Poynter]
• Top 10 blogs for writers [Write to Done]
• A list of hidden journalism-related social media groups [Poynter]

Last week on Story Board:

• The Deadly Sins of Freelancing: Relationships. Every successful freelancer knows that healthy professional relationships are everything. So if things aren’t going so well, perhaps it’s time to take a close look at whether you might be doing something that is annoying your editor/producer/client...
• Content Creators Coalition making inroads for artists’ rights: The Content Creators Coalition, an American organization that advocates for “creators of cultural content,” has had some success over the past few weeks with its campaign for artists’ rights...

 

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.