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:

• If the ‘gig economy’ is booming, why is ‘freelance’ still considered a dirty word associated with failure? [National Post]
• Journalists need to fight to repeal Bill C-51 [J-Source]
• Torstar cuts 52 jobs, drastically reducing tablet edition staff [Globe and Mail]
• 52 staff laid off at Torstar [J-Source]

From The U.S. and beyond:

• Freelance writers: 3 methods for balancing busy client days [The Write Life]
• What editors want in your personal essay [Mediabistro]
• Sorry digital media kids, “old media” is going to eat you [Digiday]
• Arianna Huffington will leave The Huffington Post [Poynter]
• How to break into freelance journalism [Freelancers Union]
• Thinking about making the jump to freelance? Here’s what you need to know [Poynter]
• "Countries with strong public service media have less rightwing extremism" [The Guardian]
• How much do freelance journalists really earn? [Journalism.co.uk]

Recently on Story Board:

• The 3 R's of freelancing: Reuse, Repurpose, Resell: You’ve heard that clichéd line, “the gift that keeps giving.” I’m starting to view my stories that way. If I resell an article I’ve written, or repurpose the story and sell a second or third rendition of that story, I am gifting myself—and putting extra money in the bank...
• CWA Canada adopts Canada’s first guidelines on media internships: CWA Canada’s National Representative Council unanimously adopted Canada’s first guidelines on educational media internships at the union’s annual meeting in Calgary from April 29-30 to establish fair standards across the media industry...

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.