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"I'm not your errand monkey": freelancers
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August 10, 2010 - Posted by Dana Lacey
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If you work from home, you may have already fallen victim to prejudice. Namely, that your office-bound friends and family dump errands and the occasional child on you...
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Freelancers prepare for battle
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July 6, 2010 - Posted by Dana Lacey
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 Freelance writers march into war. The cause: increased rates, rights and respect. The enemy: publishers like Transcontinental. Who will retreat first? This week we feature Melissa Wilson's story from the summer issue of the Ryerson Review of Journalism...
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Tyee fellowship final countdown
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June 9, 2010 - Posted by Dana Lacey
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With just 3 days left to donate, The Tyee's Investigative and Reporting fellowships are just $1,000 shy of the fiesty publication's $10,000 goal. The money raised will fund two stories - one investigative and one solutions-based - on critical issues in British Columbia...
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Canadian Freelance Union bylaws approved by members
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October 14, 2009 - Posted by Regan Ray
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The Canadian Freelance Union (CFU) is now fully legal, its president
has announced. The CFU's charter members voted on a series of bylaws
and they were overwhelmingly approved (94 per cent in favour). Here are some details distributed by CFU president Michael OReilly...
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Creators need to pay creators
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October 14, 2009 - Posted by Kim Pittaway
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Get a musician friend to compose music for free for your audio slideshow or online video: that was one suggestions from multi-media trainer Robb Montgomery of Visualeditors.com at a recent Wordstock seminar. But should creators really be asking other creators to work for free?
Montgomery's sessions were full of pointers on useful tools, devices and techniques frontline reporters and freelancers can use to improve their online multi-media storytelling, but as a freelancer myself, that suggestion that we get pals to work for free (or strangers to contribute music for free in exchange for links to their homepages) was problematic. Because if we expect others to value the creative effort it takes to craft our stories, shouldn't we value the creative efforts of musicians whose music we hope will enhance that storytelling?
My sister Tina Pittaway, a broadcast journalist who also creates podcasts for corporate clients, offered a blunter response to Montgomery: how about budgeting for music if it's so essential to our work?
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Writers unite in boycott of Transcontinental
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September 30, 2009 - Posted by Deborah Jones
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It's about time that independent writers got our act together, and if it takes a boycott of Canadian Living, More, Elle Canada, Homemakers, and Vancouver Magazine to protest Transcontinental's odious new contract, so be it.
More than a dozen organizations of Canadian writers "are calling on the thousands of writers they represent to not write for any publications owned by Transcontinental Media, effective immediately," said a press release.
Can a boycott hold up against the pressure of
thousands of writers eagerly lined up hoping for a shot of the action -- and
willing to risk their own skins to undermine efforts by professional
writers to improve everyone's lot? I wouldn't bet on it -- writers are just as naive, uninformed and unprincipled as the general population. There is no "strike" fund for freelance writers. But I still support the boycott, and I ask that you do as well.
What's really needed, imo, are changes to Canada's anti-trust laws to give them teeth -- but that might be even harder to push through than a boycott. Even the most ardent capitalists agree that free markets are no longer "free" when monopolies take over -- and Canadian media is arguably controlled by a collection of mini-monopolies that stifle the free enterprise of competitors, as well as of entrepreneurial writers.
Click "more" to read the full press release. Here is a link to the astonishing number of publications owned by Transcontinental.
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Freelance union gets commitment from CEP
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July 17, 2009 - Posted by Regan Ray
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The Canadian Freelance Union (CFU) has received a three-year commitment
from the national Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of
Canada (CEP), CFU interim president Michael OReilly has announced. The CFU Bulletin stated...
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New freelance contract causing a stir
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June 15, 2009 - Posted by Regan Ray
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Transcontinental Media has recently introduced a revised contract for freelance writers who work for one of its many publications.
The new contract is dated June 2009 and contains a number of new provisions that control ownership of a writer's work.
Check out magazine consultant D.B. Scott's Canadian Magazines blog for a great rundown on the various new clauses in the contract and to take a look at a copy of the agreement freelancers are now asked to sign.
Transcon publishes consumer magazines Canadian Living, Homemakers, More and Hockey News among others.
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As the digital age continues to creep into every aspect of journalism, 
Planning to freelance in another country? After reporting for more than three years in Africa and Asia, 