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 says 55 jobs lost at Global News [J-Source]
• Toronto Star to pay new digital journalists less than print writers [Tyee]
• Mediatech Commons launching CMG Freelance May 1st [Freelance Writing Jobs]
• La Presse says free tablet app gamble paid off [J-Source]
• Robyn Doolittle leaves Toronto Star for Globe and Mail [J-Source]
• Time for the CBC to take a big gamble [iPolitics] (via @jayrosen_nyu)
• Memo on launch of native advertising at the Globe and Mail [Globe and Mail]
• Alberta Literary Awards Shortlist [Alberta Magazines]
• Canadian University Press appoints three industry pros to board of directors [J-Source]
• Layoffs announced at profitable Shaw [CMG]

From the U.S. and beyond:

• 16 ways freelancers can help one another [Freelancers Union]
• Some news orgs are killing comments, but not just because their commenters are terrible at being humans [Nieman Lab]
• Newspaper industry narrowed revenue loss in 2013 as paywall plans increased [Poynter]
• The best project management tools for freelancers [Freelancers Union]
• And now for some really bad ledes [Poynter]

 

Last week on Story Board:

• The Born Freelancer on Interning for Free: Whenever I read stories about corporate media insisting they have no money to pay their hard working interns (such as Derek Finkle’s recent excellent post) I think back to my first job at a local small town newspaper...
• CMG Freelance to hold digital media mixer in Vancouver: CMG Freelance is holding a free event in Vancouver later this month for workers in digital media. From writers to coders, digital workers all across the spectrum are finding it increasingly challenging to meet the diversifying expectations of employers...

 

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.