Off The Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer August 7-12

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:

• Northern newspapers are surviving — and some thriving — in the Internet Age [J-Source]
• Student newspapers adapt to drop in advertising [Maclean’s] (via @jsource)
• Advertising freefall continues to drag on Quebecor media unit [Globe and Mail]
• Sun News Network denied mandatory carriage across Canada [Canada.com] (via @wolfewylie)

From the U.S. and beyond:

• Study: Journalists More Important Today Than in the Past [TVSpy] (via @Mediabistro)
• Half Of Us May Soon Be Freelancers: 6 Compelling Reasons Why [LinkedIn] (via @contently)
• How journalists can improve their storytelling by embracing design thinking [Poynter]
• Why One Self-Published Author Said ‘No’ To Amazon Publishing [GalleyCat] (via @Mediabistro)
• Google introduces new feature to help people find in-depth stories [Poynter]
• The best insights into Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and his acquisition of the WaPo [GigaOM]
• Magazine sales and circ down: Alliance for Audited Media [Masthead]
• My Nightmare Freelance Writing Client [Productive Writers] (via @freelance_hacks)
• 20 search tips for journalists [Journalism.co.uk]

From Story Board last week:

• The Born Freelancer on Remaking Radio Drama in Canada: How do we get from here (post-CBC Radio drama) to there (in which independent audio drama production can at least pay for itself)? I believe we have a long, long way to go yet but I would like to offer a step by step guide to one possible pathway for your consideration…
• The 5-Minute Freelancer Q&A #11 – Erin Millar: In this regular feature, Story Board asks Canadian writers to share a few details about their work habits and their strategies for navigating the ups and downs of freelance life…

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.