Freelance court interpreters consider unionizing
Ottawa-area freelance court interpreters, who provide an essential service in court cases involving non-English-speaking individuals, are continuing a work stoppage that began in February and are considering joining a union, according to this story from the Lawyers Weekly. Those involved in the group action, with the backing of the Court Interpreters Association of Ontario, are […]
Not just for laughs
The story of a group of comedians gigging at the Comedy Store in the ’70s is being compared to the battle for fair compensation currently being fought by unpaid Huffington Post writers. After working for free for six years, the comics — including Jay Leno and David Letterman — were tired of watching the club’s […]
St. Joseph Media keeps mum about Torontoist plans
By Ian Harvey Three weeks after the announcement Torontoist had got hitched to St. Joseph Media, there’s a cone of silence on what the future holds for the newlyweds. Attempts by Story Board to interview the principals involved, Torontoist publisher Ken Hunt and St. Joe’s president Doug Knight, received short email responses or were ignored […]
Asking Arianna for change
Open letters to publications’ management are a last-ditch tactic to right wrongs and spur change—but as we’ve seen recently, they can be effective. Now, adding his voice to many others asking the Huffington Post to reconsider its approach to compensating writers, comes Bernie Lunzer, president of the Newspaper Guild-CWA, with an open letter to Arianna […]
CWG’s Derek Finkle on Nino Ricci’s letter to the Globe
We asked Derek Finkle, founder of the Canadian Writers Group, which represents independent writers, about typical compensation for freelance travel writing and whether it’s common for dailies to leave an invoice unpaid for six months, as the Globe did in Ricci’s case.
Toronto Standard aims to give web writers a fair shake
Launching April 7, Toronto Standard will join an already crowded field of sites presenting Toronto news. But rather than follow the recent trend of focusing on the hyper-local, the site plans to look outward, editorial director Christopher Frey—founding editor of Outpost Magazine and a writer represented by Canadian Writers Group—told Torontoist. A few writers have […]
Nino Ricci gives the Globe a thrashing
In an open letter to the Globe posted on his own site, author Nino Ricci feigns concern for the paper’s financial situation while castigating them for failing to pay him for a travel story published six months ago.
Freelance court interpreters take action (updated)
In most cases, if a journalist makes an error, the consequences are little more than embarrassment and a correction. But court interpreters go to work knowing that their mistakes could send someone an innocent person to jail or set a guilty defendent free. It’s a high-pressure role, and a group of freelance court interpreters in […]
Newspaper Guild-CWA advocating on behalf of unpaid HuffPo writers
Poynter.org has posted a press release from the Newspaper Guild-CWA in which it asks writers who contribute work to the Huffington Post for free to cease doing so until the company agrees to start compensating them. The Guild’s request follows the Huffington’s Post‘s recent $350 million buyout by AOL, and it’s not the first call […]
German freelancers say “Ja” to minimum pay rates
Freelance journalists may be the lone wolves of the media world, but many are starting to form packs, too. Look at Germany: freelancers there are biting back against “all rights” contracts and establishing fair pay models.
