Archive for January, 2011

Two years of shame at Journal de Montreal

Two hundred and fifty-three  Journal de Montréal workers marked their second anniversary on the picket line today. They were locked out by their employer, media giant Quebecor, on January 24, 2009, after employees refused to accept concessions. The paper has continued to publish, although many, many freelancers have heeded the call to stop contributing. The locked-out workers’ […]

Posted on January 24, 2011 at 6:19 pm by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT · Tagged with: , ,

Paid surfing coming to NYTimes.com

The Wall Street Journal online is reporting that the New York Times is planning to launch a paid subscription system, likely next month, for online content. The system will allow casual surfers a certain amount of free content and targets instead the 15% of “heavy users” for a monthly sub fee. Right now, according to […]

Posted on January 24, 2011 at 5:28 pm by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT · Tagged with: , , , ,

HarperCollins seeks the right morals

Most freelancers are familiar with the concept of moral rights: the right to claim authorship of their work, and the right to not have it distorted or “folded, spindled and mutilated” in such a way that it would damage the author’s reputation. US publisher HarperCollins has recently started talking about morals of another kind. The […]

Posted on January 19, 2011 at 2:00 pm by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT · Tagged with: , ,

Another freelance class action suit settled

A tentative settlement worth approximately $5.5 million was reached on behalf of freelancers with a group of publishers including the Toronto Star Newspapers and Rogers Publishing. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice will consider the tentative settlement in April. Many Canadian freelance writers have heard of Robertson v. Thomson, a 2006 decision of the Supreme Court of […]

Posted on January 18, 2011 at 12:22 pm by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT · Tagged with: , , , ,

False or misleading news soon ok on TV, radio

The CRTC is proposing to loosen some of the only rules we have related to broadcast news content in Canada. The current rules say that broadcasters cannot air “any false or misleading news.” Period. The change, scheduled to come into effect on September 1 of this year, would limit that prohibition to situations where the false or […]

Posted on January 18, 2011 at 11:43 am by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT · Tagged with: , , , , ,

Guild’s freelance branch seeks louder voice

CMG freelance branch president Don Genova provides an update on activities in the winter edition of the union’s newsletter here. The branch is busy meeting with CBC management to improve the ways freelancers are contracted at the public broadcaster. It is also welcoming new members to the fold, in the form of writers represented by the Canadian […]

Posted on January 18, 2011 at 10:50 am by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT

US reality TV freelancers joining union

Freelance writers and producers, some of whom have worked for the same production company for years without benefits and paid overtime, have begun joining the Writers’ Guild of America, East. An article posted at truthout.org describes why 150 freelancers who work for two different New York City production companies – Atlas Media and ITV Studios – […]

Posted on January 11, 2011 at 3:22 pm by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT · Tagged with: , , ,

Reader’s Digest to feed MSN.ca

The Canadian Magazines blog is reporting that Reader’s Digest has a deal with MSN.ca to provide lifestyle and travel content in French and English for the news website. The Canadian Writers Group, which represents writers who provide content to Reader’s Digest, has made a formal inquiry to the magazine about how writers will be compensated for […]

Posted on January 6, 2011 at 1:25 pm by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT · Tagged with: , , , ,

The new new journalism

Shannon Rupp writes in The Tyee about “the really super new new journalism” in which journalists are “repeaters.” She describes an incident in which an editor paid a freelancer for a piece only to learn that the freelancer had simply put their byline on a press release. Rupp’s not so sure this kind of practice can be condemned […]

Posted on January 4, 2011 at 3:34 pm by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT · Tagged with: , ,

2011 and the digital platform

Happy 2011! You will hear nonstop about the “digital platform.” Masthead published all kinds of end-of-year interviews with publishers and they’re all bullish on big-D digital, of course. Reader’s Digest‘s Tony Cioffi says: “2011 will be focused on Digital, developing products and expanding our current brands and launching new ones to support our multi-brand and multi-platform […]

Posted on January 4, 2011 at 3:19 pm by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT · Tagged with: , , ,