The Tyee

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA·FOUNDED NOVEMBER 2003·thetyee.ca

The Tyee is an independent, nonprofit online news magazine based in Vancouver, founded by David Beers as an alternative to corporate media, funded through reader memberships rather than a paywall.

Overview

The Tyee is an independent, nonprofit online news magazine based in Vancouver, British Columbia, publishing daily journalism on politics, culture and life in British Columbia. The outlet is not part of a chain or owned by a for-profit corporation; it operates without a hard paywall, relying on a reader-membership program called Tyee Builders alongside advertising and other revenue.

History

The Tyee was founded in November 2003 by David Beers, a writer and former features editor at The Vancouver Sun who had left the paper after writing a 2001 commentary defending sociologist Sunera Thobani's remarks on free speech. Beers launched the outlet with initial funding of about $36,000, drawing roughly $21,000 from reader donations and $15,000 in matching funds from the Endswell Fund at Tides Canada Foundation, with additional early support from the B.C. Federation of Labour and advertising agency Quest Advertising. The publication's original stated premise was "investigative journalism no one else is doing, and fresh viewpoints from all over B.C." Its name refers to the Tyee salmon, a large Chinook or Spring salmon; the word derives from the Nuu-chah-nulth language and means "chief," "king" or "champion." Beers has said the name reflects the outlet's dedication to "lively, informative news and views" and to staff who "roam free, and go where we wish."

In February 2006, The Tyee launched two charitable funds to help pay journalists and support stories not covered by mainstream media. In 2007, the Canadian Journalism Foundation gave The Tyee an Honorable Mention for Excellence in Journalism in a newly created category for small, medium and local media outlets with fewer than 500,000 monthly unique visitors. The Tyee launched a companion blog, The Hook, in 2008, publishing shorter, more frequent reports from Tyee journalists and outside contributors; the blog was retired in 2014. Jeanette Ageson currently serves as publisher, while David Beers continues as editor-in-chief.

Notable works

• January 28, 2005The Tyee published the first installment of "The 100-Mile Diet," a serialized diary by writers Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon documenting their year-long attempt to eat only food grown or produced within 100 miles of their Vancouver home. The Globe and Mail reported at the time that the series had become "an internet phenomenon of sorts," drawing readers well beyond British Columbia.

• 2007The 100-Mile Diet project led to a bestselling book, The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating (Random House, 2007), and later a 2009 television series, The 100 Mile Challenge, on the Planet Green network. Co-author J.B. MacKinnon went on to win the 2006 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction and has since received multiple National Magazine Awards.

Key personnel

• Founder & Editor-in-Chief David Beers

• Publisher Jeanette Ageson

• Senior Editor Andrea Bennett

Audience

The Tyee reported approximately 8 million visitors to its site in 2021, with similar readership the year prior, according to the outlet's own figures. The Tyee is supported financially by more than 10,000 Tyee Builder members who contribute directly to sustain its reporting.

Location and contact info

HeadquartersVancouver, British Columbia, Canada

StructureIndependent nonprofit newsroom

Websitehttps://thetyee.ca