The TyeeThe Tyee
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The Tyee is an independent online Canadian news magazine that primarily covers British Columbia. It was founded in November 2003 by its editor-in-chief, David Beers, an award-winning writer and former features editor at The Vancouver Sun. Since its launch it has recruited a number of other writers, including Andrew Nikiforuk, Andrew MacLeod, Katie Hyslop, Crawford Kilian, Michael Harris, Colleen Kimmett, Geoff Dembicki, Charles Campbell, Christopher Cheung, Tom Barrett, Sarah Berman, Chris Wood, Ian Gill, Chris Pollon, Steve Burgess, Murray Dobbin, Michael Geist, Terry Glavin, Mark Leiren-Young, Rafe Mair, Will McMartin, Shannon Rupp, Vanessa Richmond and Dorothy Woodend.
The name "Tyee" is based on the current local definition of Tyee salmon—a Chinook or Spring salmon of 30 lbs or more. The word is derived from the Nuu-chah-nulth language, meaning a chief, a king, or champion.[1] It also embodies the magazine's dedication to publishing lively, informative news and views, to "roam free, and go where we wish" as the tyee salmon do.[2]
Tyee articles focus on politics, culture and life. It has expanded its activities to a blog: The Hook. Within two years of its launch, over 1,000 articles had been published by more than 1,500 registered commenters[clarification needed], reaching 89,458 unique visitors.[3] In 2009, according to BCBusiness magazine, The Tyee had a growing British Columbia readership, up 77 percent since 2007 to approximately 175,000 unique visitors a month.[4] By 2017, The Tyee was regularly receiving between 800,000 to 1,000,000 page views a month.[5]
In 2007, The Tyee was recognized nationally with an Honourable Mention in the category of Excellence in Journalism for Small, Medium, or Local Media.[6] The category includes all Canadian online journalism with fewer than 500,000 unique visitors a month. In 2009, the magazine BCBusiness also placed The Tyee as ninth of their list of the province's ten most innovative companies.[4] The Tyee was awarded the Edward R. Murrow Award by the Radio and Television News Directors Association in 2009 and 2011.[7] It was the only Canadian news organization to be honoured for the national (North America-wide) category in 2011. The Tyee has won the Canadian Journalism Foundation Excellence in Journalism Award twice, in 2009 and 2011.[8] In 2015, The New Yorker magazine called The Tyee "a fascinating case study" of how local journalism is funded.[9]