‘Journalism’
Writers who do data journalism increasingly in demand
By H.G. Watson Any freelance journalist has tools they rely on, whether it is a specific brand of pens or an addiction to Google News. But at the Ink + Beyond and Canadian Association of Journalists conference in Ottawa on May 2-4, Fred Vallance-Jones and David McKie encouraged writers to add a few new [...]
Contently and the Rise of Content Marketing
Prospects seem rather gloomy for freelance writers these days. With dying weeklies, draconian magazine contracts, and endless cutbacks at daily papers and the CBC, it’s sometimes hard to see how freelancing can possibly remain a viable career path. But amid all the journalistic despair there is one area of growth for freelance writers. It’s called [...]
The 5-Minute Freelancer Q&A #8 – Alison Garwood-Jones
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. 1. What’s your strategy for generating story ideas? A lot of it is just looking at the landscape and seeing what inspires me, what enrages [...]
Content farms and the decline of long form
by H.G. Watson Want to get hits on your website? Easy. Just feature a list. “Here are the Best Dumb Things Ryan Lochte Said on His Reality Show,” or “10 Reasons Duke the Corgi Has the Potential To Be One of America’s Next Top Corgis” are actual articles you can find on the sites [...]
Who Pays Writers (and Photographers)?
In an era when so many writers are being asked to work for free, frank talk about writing rates is desperately needed. Maybe that’s why it’s such a thrill to see freelance fees being discussed openly online lately. Who Pays Writers started up late last year and has been going strong ever since, posting anonymous user-submitted [...]
I Am Not Anonymous
By Amber Nasrulla I’d like to sit down with the person or people at TC Media who penned the new freelance contract. As Story Board reported last week, they’ve refused to negotiate improvements or meet with anyone from the Canadian Media Guild (CMG) saying they prefer to meet with freelancers individually. If I met them [...]
Writing Our Stories: The Experiences of Women and Queer Journalists
By Ljudmila Petrovic and Angela Espinoza On April 3, the Canadian University Press and CWA joined forces to organize a panel discussion in Vancouver to explore the experiences of queer and women journalists. The speakers • Tina House, a video journalist for APTN, spoke of working in a bar and absolutely hating it, knowing [...]
This ain’t your parents’ advertorial
By Karen Wirsig So Global TV is now airing “news” reports sponsored by advertisers. The piece about what a pain it is to do your taxes might be brought to you by Q&Z Tax services. The one about all the crime in the east end could be courtesy of the local police association. Advertisers are [...]
Q and A on the TC Media freelance contract
By André Dumont, former AJIQ vice-president AJIQ (The Quebec Association of Independent Journalists) has gotten a lot of questions about the new TC Media contract. Here are a few of them, along with our answers. Q: I signed the contract. Can I translate my articles and sell them to a French-language magazine? A: No. You [...]
Should I Work For Free?
There’s been a lot of talk this month about whether – and under what circumstances — a freelancer should agree to work for free. The online debate was sparked by journalist Nate Thayer’s blog post about being asked to repurpose a previously-published article for use by the Atlantic… without any compensation. It seemed as though everyone was [...]
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