Media Democracy Days: Spry Memorial Panel

Located in Room 2270 at the Vancouver Harbour Centre!

The discussion will be based around these questions:

• What big challenges are media facing today?
• Why should citizens care about media democracy?
• What does media democracy mean today?
• What infrastructures do we need to foster civic engagement?
• What's the role of government in ensuring and sustaining media democracy at the national, regional and local levels?

Panelists:

David Beers is founding editor of The Tyee and editor-in-chief. He started the site in 2003 to explore new ways of doing online journalism in the public interest, including solutions-focused reporting, crowd-funded support and a humane work culture. He loves what the non-profit Tyee has become thanks to amazing colleagues and readers. Before The Tyee he was a senior editor at the San Francisco Examiner, Mother Jones and Vancouver Sun. He taught as adjunct professor of journalism at UBC for 18 years. His writing has appeared in many U.S. and Canadian publications.

Carol Linnitt is the co-founder, editor-in-chief and executive director of The Narwhal. Carol has a Master's in English and another in Philosophy and she holds a PhD in Cultural, Social and Political Thought from the University of Victoria where she studied our obsession with end-of-world narratives. Throughout the past three years, Carol has represented The Narwhal as a co-plaintiff, alongside photojournalist Amber Bracken, in a potentially precedent-setting press freedom case against the RCMP for Bracken's arrest while reporting for The Narwhal. When she's not at her desk, or in a courtroom, you can usually find Carol oceanside, joyfully being an amateur at freediving or surfing.

Neil Malik is the Founder and Publisher of The Level, a news platform that delivers every story from two opposing perspectives while building media literacy and understanding. The Level was recognized in 2025 by the Canadian Journalism Foundation as one of Canada’s 20 future-forward journalism creators. His career spans more than 20 years across advertising, content strategy, and news publishing. His unique background provides a deep understanding of how media shapes perception, how audiences consume content, and the challenges facing the journalism industry.

Iris Yu is a bilingual journalist and news anchor currently working at Fairchild Television. She has extensive experience covering a wide range of topics, including politics, public health, community affairs, and Canada–China relations. Her work translates complex issues into accessible narratives, aiming to connect and empower audiences across linguistic and cultural boundaries.

Moderator:

Professor Heidi Tworek is a Canada Research Chair and Professor of History and Public Policy at the University of British Columbia, where she also directs the Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions. Her work explores how new communications technologies affect democracy in the past and present.

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Host or Publisher SFU School of Communication