Archive for July, 2011
Tim Knight on The National
Well, okay, Tim Knight wasn’t on The National. At least not lately. But Knight—who wrote, reported for, and produced the show in the ’70s—has a lot to say about its current state, and he wrote about it for J-Source. In summary, he thinks it stinks. Knight zeroes in on July 7 of this year, the […]
A little good news: The NYT paywall is working
The New York Times’ paywall, which requires readers to subscribe to the site if they read more than 20 stories per month, is exceeding expectations and bringing in significant revenue for the company, writes Felix Salmon for Reuters. Salmon, who made a public bet that the paywall would disappear before its second birthday, is still […]
A webspace of your own: Site Construction 101
This series of posts by the Born Freelancer will share personal experiences and thoughts on issues relevant to freelancers. Have something to add to the conversation? Your input is welcome in the comments. In this fast moving-social media age of Twitterers and tweets, Facebook and friending, often overlooked or dismissed as old school is, IMHO, […]
Happy Birthday, Marshall McLuhan
One hundred years ago today, Herbert Marshall McLuhan was born in Edmonton. By the time he passed in 1980, his profound impact on media and communications theory made him a scholarly figure known worldwide and affectionately idolized in Canada. No one finishes j-school in this country without reading his work (and sweating out an essay […]
Huffington Post Canada on “content mills”
Well, this is something. In a post on HuffPo Canada, freelance writer Bob Beaty discusses the value of freelance content sites and asks writers to weigh in on them too. The conclusion of the article, in brief, is that while writers are severely underpaid by these sites and are dissuaded from putting any personality into […]
Is Google+ for you?
Google+ is still very new, but it’s a big deal in the online world right now, especially amongst journalists. Some people are saying it’s the fastest-growing social network ever and it poses a threat to both Facebook and Twitter. On Mashable.com, you can read about five ways journalists are using Google+, namely: Talking about Google+ […]
Reactions to the Nagata Saga, Storified
[View the story “Canadian Journalists React to Kai Nagata’s Manifesto” on Storify]
A freelancer, an undead dog, and the CBC
Every once in a while, a story comes along that goes beyond telling us one person’s experiences in freelancing and manages to encapsulate what working conditions are like for many freelance journalists working in Canada today. It shows trends in the business we’ve all seen but find hard to explain to friends and family who […]
The Born Freelancer’s love-hate relationship with freelancing
A friend of mine read my last blog and asked, “Why would anyone ever want to freelance?”
My Top Ten Reasons To Love Freelancing
(1) I am my own boss.
This is probably the number one reason for most of us. We get a sense of being in charge of our lives – even if we’re not. In reality, sometimes it
may feel like we have numerous bosses but at the end of the day it is still our choice and that seems to be important. As is my actual mandate (as
decided by me) to do more or less exactly what I want to do, creating what I want to create, on an ongoing basis.
Journalistic ethics: What guides you?
The News of the World scandal is on every journalists’ mind (and lips, and in their tweets, too) this week. It’s turned the principles and ethics of the people who make the news into news itself: opinion pieces about journalists’ dastardly deeds and extensive discussions about the media in the U.K. It’s also got a […]
