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April 10, 2008: Independent media covering ongoing CanWest contract dispute
The online journal Straight Goods has published a comprehensive piece about the ongoing struggle against a new CanWest Mediaworks freelance contract. PWAC has been active in protesting the new contract, which demands all rights, including a waiver of moral rights. From the article:
"...when the CanWest contract first surfaced, the terms seemed so draconian that members of the Professional Writers Association of Canada and The Writers Union of Canada thought it must be a hoax, as StraightGoods.ca reported in October 2004. Even the CanWest executive that SG contacted for confirmation was a bit taken aback when he first saw the wording, and emphasized that this was not the only contract CanWest used. Now it is."
"Of course, the newspaper industry is in turmoil. Readership is falling. Newsrooms are downsizing, and looking to wire services, free-lancers or former staff to supply more, more and more text. Free-lance rates have been dropping at the same time that publishers have introduced rights-grabbing contracts."
Read the full article at the link above, and see PWAC's press release about trends in freelance contracting here.
Cross-posted at johndegen.com
April 02, 2008: Nancy Fleming remembered
The Globe and Mail has published Noreen Shanahan's very comprehensive look back at the life of Nancy Fleming, former Executive Director of the Book and Periodical Council, and one of the great builders of our culture. Ms. Fleming passed away last month after a long illness.
As executive director of the Toronto-based Book and Periodical Council, she left behind a legacy that includes Freedom to Read Week, the Canadian Children's Book Centre, Access Copyright, the Canadian Copyright Institute, Give the Gift of Literacy, and everything from the Book Industry Freight Plan for book shipments to the royalty payments of the League of Poets. A certifiable bookworm, her own shelves bulged with hundreds of books.
Canada's readers, writers, booksellers, librarians and publishers will miss her principled leadership.
(cross-posted at johndegen.com)
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