David Beers is a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
journalist. He was born in 1957 and grew up in
San Jose, California
San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...
, where his father worked for
Lockheed as a satellite test engineer. He attended Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California. He was the former editor of Mother Jones Magazine. He is a faculty member in the
Graduate School of Journalism at the
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...
.
Life
Over the past two decades, Beers’ work has been published in magazines including the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
Magazine'' and ''
Harper's''. In 1994, "We’re No Angels" was a finalist for the Canadian
National Magazine Award
The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...
.
In 2002, after being fired from the ''
Vancouver Sun
The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published s ...
'' over a controversial editorial about freedom of speech in a post-9/11 milieu, Beers started an online publication in
Vancouver, British Columbia
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
called ''
The Tyee
The Tyee is an independent online daily news source primarily based in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was founded in November 2003 as an alternative to "corporate media". Articles in The Tyee focus on politics, culture, and life.
The Tyee was f ...
''. Funded in large part by non-profit groups, the
British Columbia Federation of Labour
The British Columbia Federation of Labour (BCFED), often shortened to the BC Federation of Labour, is a central organization for organized labour in British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in 1910 and claims to have a membership of 500,000, wi ...
and an advertising agency called Quest Advertising, the ''Tyee''
's goal is to publish news and opinion not adequately covered by the mainstream news media.
His book, ''
Blue Sky Dream: A Memoir of America's Fall from Grace'', is based on his essay, "The Crash of Blue Sky California", which won the American
National Magazine Awards
The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...
when it appeared in ''Harper's''.
Works
"The Public Sphere and Online, Independent Journalism" ''CSSE''
"It's all good: The appeal of Deepak Chopra", ''Salon'', May 10, 2001* ''
Blue Sky Dream: A Memoir of America's Fall from Grace'', 1996,
References
External links
The Tyee
Journalists from British Columbia
Writers from San Jose, California
Writers from Vancouver
1957 births
Living people
{{Canada-journalist-stub