February 28, 2007: PWAC National Executive meeting this weekend

PWAC Executive members Tracy-Lyn Moland, Kate Merlin, Tanya Gulliver and Associate Director Clare Leporati at September 2006 Executive meetings in Toronto.

PWAC's governing body will meet this coming weekend in the National Office boardroom in Toronto. This represents the third of four National Executive meetings for the 2006/07 PWAC year, with the final meeting scheduled for the National Conference in Vancouver in May.

Your hard-working elected Executive have two full-day agendas in front of them, with discussion of every PWAC priority project and committee on the schedule.

A number of PWAC Executive members will also be attending the Access Copyright annual general meeting this coming Friday.

Minutes of the Executive meetings will be posted in the Members-Only section of the website soon after the meetings.

February 19, 2007: PWAC's Application for Intervention Accepted into Baltovich Trial

An affidavit signed by PWAC Ontario Regional Director Tanya Gulliver was this morning accepted as an intervention in the ongoing Robert Baltovich trial in Ontario.

PWAC has joined with the Canadian Association of Journalists, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, The Writers' Union of Canada and PEN Canada in support of an application to quash a subpoena issued to Toronto writer and editor Derek Finkle.

Derek Finkle is the author of No Claim to Mercy, a book about the first Baltovich trial. He was served with a subpoena in October compelling him to produce "all documents or notes" related to the trial.

PWAC's intervention states, among other things, that "a party seeking access to a writer's work product should be required to specify detailed particulars of the material sought... and the relevance of the material to an issue at trial."

For more details about this issue, please see PWAC's media release from last week.

February 19, 2007: Google sues Polish poets over URL

Google, the mighty Internet search engine company, which has recently been criticized by creator groups for a somewhat clumsy approach to the concept of intellectual property (see this New Yorker article for an excellent overview), is suing a group of Polish poets over ownership of the URL gmail.pl.

Almost everywhere else in the world gmail stands for Google Mail, a powerful e-mail tool offered by the search engine. The company, however, did not register its URL in Poland, much to the delight of GMAIL, the Grupa Mlodych Artystow i Literatow (Group of Young Artists and Writers) who were pleased to be able to register a domain in their acronym.

Read the full story at this link. And here's a somewhat ironic excerpt:

"We bought the name legally, with our own money. Nobody gave it to us for free. We refuse to be deprived of what we consider is our property."

Krawczyk said that Google had not proposed a financial settlement.

"Their lawyer told me that his client had no intention of paying for something which belonged to him," she claimed.

February 15, 2007: Investing in quality news product increases profit

From a recent Reuters news report:

"If you lower the amount of money spent in the newsroom, then pretty soon the news product becomes so bad that you begin to lose money."

While the study focuses primarily on the loss of staff jobs within newspaper newsrooms, the findings do suggest that in print media (and presumably digital text-based media), money spent on the writing is an investment toward overall profit.

The report continues:

"I am delighted to see them post proof that quality precedes profit," Philip Meyer, a professor at the University of North Carolina and author of the book "The Vanishing Newspaper," said of the study.

"I don't share the authors' confidence that the industry will appreciate the importance of their result and act on it," he added. "Too many owners are more interested in harvesting than investing."

Thanks to bookninja for the tip.

February 14, 2007: ACTRA's digital negotiations

The Professional Writers Association of Canada is closely monitoring developments in the recent labour dispute between ACTRA, representing 21,000 television, film and radio performers, and producers from the film and television industry.

As has been widely reported, one of the central issues in the strike is the use of performances with new media such as the Internet and cell phones.

"Canada's freelance writers face similar challenges," says PWAC President Suzanne Boles," and therefore we are very sympathetic to ACTRA's position on digital media."

"PWAC has documented a direct parallel between the rise of written content use in new media and the decline in writers' overall incomes," added Executive Director John Degen. "Canada's creators must not be expected to subsidize the growth of the new media business model by sacrificing earnings."

PWAC, established in 1976, is the national organization representing 600 professional freelance writers and journalists in Canada.

More information:

Suzanne Boles, PWAC President
suzanne@writeconnection.org

John Degen, Executive Director
jdegen@pwac.ca
(416) 504-1645

February 12, 2007: TORO to cease publication

image courtesy of TORO

A minor earthquake hit Canada's magazine industry today as TORO, a high-end men's title distributed in the Globe &Mail, announced it will cease publication immediately. The March issue, already prepared, will not be distributed. TORO's announcement to contributers delivered the sad news while assuring that work already completed for the magazine will be paid for. The TORO offices will remain open until February 23.

February 08, 2007: Canada Council turns 50!

image courtesy of the Canada Council

The Canada Council for the Arts has launched a new website focused on their 50th anniversary.

2007 is a year to consider the last 50 years of Council-supported Canadian arts and culture.

Professional Writers Association of Canada members, many of whom have received direct support from the Council through individual grants or block grants to their publishers, will also be celebrating the continued operating support the CC provides to Canada's National Arts Service Organizations. PWAC's important work in the service of Canada's freelance writers has long been recognized and supported by the Canada Council.

Here are details from the CC's press release about their new site:

2007 is the 50th anniversary of the Canada Council for the Arts. For five decades, the Council has given Canadians access to their own stories through the imagination of artists in every corner of the country.

Want to know more about Canadian artists?

Check out the artists' stories and historical timeline.

Looking for arts events in your area? 

The Council has up-to-date information on arts events, including over 100 events across Canada dedicated to the Council's 50th anniversary.

The 50 for 50 Arts Challenge!

Seek out 50 special arts experiences this year that will put you in closer touch with the artistic life of your community.  Tell us about your experiences at 50@canadacouncil.ca. You may see your contribution on the web!

Enjoy our 50th anniversary web site. Share this information with friends and colleagues. www.50.canadacouncil.ca

February 07, 2007: PWAC Intervening on Behalf of Writer Derek Finkle

The Professional Writers Association of Canada has joined with Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE), the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ), PEN Canada and The Writers Union of Canada (TWUC) as official interveners in the Robert Baltovich trial now being heard in a Toronto courtroom.

PWAC's intervention is on behalf of Toronto writer and editor Derek Finkle who has been subpoenaed by the court to turn over all of his research materials for the book No Claim to Mercy. Mr. Finkle wrote the book about the original Baltovich trial, and it contains information attained through confidential interviews with various sources, including the accused.

PWAC supports Mr. Finkle's contention that neither the prosecution nor the defence should use his confidential work; and rather that agents of the court should present their own investigative work at trial. Mr. Baltovich remains free on bail as he appeals his controversial earlier conviction in the murder of Elizabeth Bain.

The hearing on the subpoena continues on February 19th, and PWAC will be present in support of Mr. Finkle.

February 05, 2007: More journalists pressured to reveal sources

Macleans.ca is today reporting that lawyers for Maher Arar have suggested it is now time for reporters to reveal the confidential sources for reports about government information on Arar's alleged terrorism links.

In an article posted today, Chris Selley writes:

By far the more common reading is that [the media] provided a forum for the series of government leaks that cast vague - and not-so-vague - aspersions on Arar both before and after he was freed by Syria in October 2003. And now, the lawyer who represented Arar in his lawsuit against the federal government is calling on the journalists involved to take it upon themselves to reveal those sources.

PWAC continues its active involvement in this issue with support of Toronto journalist Derek Finkle, who has been subpoenaed by an Ontario court to reveal source material for a book he wrote about the Robert Baltovich trial.