Off The Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer Dec 10-16

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:

• Andrew Cash’s urban worker strategy bill tackles unpaid internships [J-Source]
• Pursue your passion – succeeding at specialty writing [PWAC Toronto]
• Research cheat sheet: tips from a librarian [Masthead]
• Rob Ford: Daniel Dale tells us why he’s taking legal action [Toronto Star]
• U of T and Western back out of paying royalties to writers and publishers for copying [Canadian Magazines]
• Ask a Mentor section to relaunch in January [J-Source]
• Reporter asks for $100,000 security in libel case involving former Olympic CEO [Globe and Mail]
• Rogers merges Canadian Business and Profit [Masthead]

From the U.S. and beyond:

• Against ‘Long-Form Journalism’ [The Atlantic]
  
• ABC News and Ted Koppel owe an apology for soiling the integrity of freelancers and the institution of journalism [Nate Thayer]
• How to Land Freelance Work with Social Media [Freelancers Union]
• How Uncoverage plans to democratise in-depth journalism [Journalism.co.uk]
• Like rest of the news industry, campus papers reach for new strategies [Pew Research] (via @NiemanLab)
• How Ted Koppel and ABC TV Tried to Steal my Life Work [Nate Thayer] (via @shanghaimyrick)

This week on Story Board:

• Freelancers report delayed payments from Venture Publishing: Venture Publishing has told at least one freelancer that it is behind in payments to its contributors,blaming poor summer ad sales for delayed invoice payments…
• The 5-Minute Freelancer Q&A #14 – Lyndsie Bourgon: 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.