TC Media refuses meeting request
Last week, a group of associations and unions representing Canadian media professionals sent a letter to TC Media requesting a meeting to discuss the terms in their new contributors agreement. The group — which includes the Canadian Media Guild, CWA/SCA Canada, the Canadian Writers Group, the Canadian Freelance Union, the Professional Writers Association of Canada, the […]
Intellectual property lawyer responds to TC Media agreement
The new Transcontinental Media contributor agreement has raised a furor among freelancers over the past few weeks. TC Media, which publishes a variety of magazines including Canadian Living, Elle Canada, and The Hockey News, has increased the copyright demands in its new agreement and requires contributors to waive their moral rights. This week Story Board contacted Warren Sheffer — […]
An Open Letter to Transcontinental by Jay Teitel
Dear Transcontinental Media: In the past decade or so online theft of intellectual property has become not just a problem, but a cause celebre, with a lot of people who should know better claiming that all information belongs to everyone, gratis, and that appropriating a piece of writing a professional writer has executed, and […]
Transcontinental Media responds
Last month we told you about the new Transcontinental Media contributor agreement, an agreement that demands full copyright from freelancers as well as a waiver of moral rights. Story Board requested an interview with TC Media Senior Vice President Pierre Marcoux to ask about the reasons behind the changes to their agreement. We were granted […]
From the Toronto Star to Transcon…freelancers unite!
Yesterday, magazine writer and author Ann Douglas wrote a post for Story Board explaining why she quit her column for the Toronto Star. The tremendous response to her post – in the blog comments, on Facebook and on Twitter – proves how fed up freelancers are with the unfair contracts being imposed by publishers. Yes, publishers are […]
Why I Am No Longer Writing The Column I Loved for The Toronto Star
By Ann Douglas Three weeks ago, I was confronted with one of the most difficult decisions I have had to make in my career as a freelance writer: sign a highly objectionable freelance writing agreement or stop writing a column I loved. In mid-February, I was presented with a copy of The Toronto Star’s […]
Transcontinental Media agreement expands copyright demands
There’s a new Transcontinental Media contributor agreement and it’s not going to bring writers any joy. The publisher, whose most popular titles include Elle Canada, Canadian Living, Style at Home, The Hockey News and Vancouver Magazine, has made significant changes to the 2009 version of their agreement – an agreement that led to a boycott […]
CMG resolves complaint, gets freelancer paid
The Canadian Media Guild helped get a CBC freelancer paid this week. The freelancer had not been paid the appropriate rate for several years and had never been asked to sign a contract. Despite the fact that the problems occurred a number of years ago, the CMG settled the dispute and managed to negotiate appropriate […]
Professional liability insurance for freelancers in the works
Freelance contacts are sprouting some worrisome clauses these days, with many publishers attempting to shift responsibility for defamation onto writers. As a result, Writers Coalition (the plan developed by Actra Fraternal Benefits Society to offer group insurance to independent content creators) is looking into the possibility of offering professional liability insurance to freelance writers. Jason Saulay, […]
CFU makes progress in negotiations over Canada Wide Media contract
A couple of months ago, we brought you details of Canada Wide Media’s new freelance contract. The contract raised a number of concerns for writers — concerns that include a lack of specifics regarding kill fees, a lengthy waiting period for submission approval, the lack of specific wording related to e-book rights, and a clause that attempts to […]
