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Tyee Readers, You’re an Interesting Bunch

We thought we knew you. Turns out, you’re a life-saving, sheep-shearing, rather complex crew.

Christopher Cheung 25 Jul 2016TheTyee.ca

Christopher Cheung is editorial assistant of The Tyee.

We thought we knew you, Tyee readers. After all, you can have a rough idea of who someone is by the kind of media they consume.

The person who chooses their city paper for sports analysis is likely different from the person who chooses a book review magazine. The person who buys the National Post everyday for its financial coverage might have different views than the person who checks Vice hourly on their phone. There are people who read everything, and people who read nothing but the New Yorker.

Our estimation of Tyee readers was that you’re smart, savvy, vocal and active forces in your communities. (Humble, we know.) And our recent reader survey proved this.

Many of you have post-secondary education, read widely, take courses and attend talks. You put time into churches, unions, political and social organizing. And it’s not just people you care for, it’s the earth too: you garden, take care of animals and even do “stream-keeping.”

There are almost as many male readers as there are female (gosh-wow! parity!). Of those who answered, 49.8 per cent are female, 49.6 per cent are male. This is similar to the makeup of Canada itself: 51 per cent female, 49 per cent male.

We also found out that many of you read The Tyee quite regularly – 86 per cent of you read us every week, some even every day.

On top of all this, our survey revealed a number of unexpected surprises. Who would’ve guessed that you readers also save lives and blacksmith?

We thought we’d share some of our findings with you, so that you know you’re in good company.

More about you

We were curious what industries you worked in. The two that came out on top were education and health care. Ten per cent of Tyee readers work in education, six per cent in a post-secondary setting, and four per cent with kindergarteners to Grade 12s. Almost five per cent of you work in health.

We had a suspicion this might be the case, but we never could’ve imagined the diversity of expertise and hobbies you share.

One of you is a former railroad conductor. One of you consults on brain injuries. One of you works in the funeral industry, and loves it. One of you is a “retired left-wing political cartoonist surrounded by right-wing media uninterested in my POV.”

Hobby-wise, one of you is a Girl Guide leader. One of you is a flamenco dancer. One of you does blacksmithing for fun. One of you is a “very active senior” who kayaks and plays the ukulele. One of you plays a game called pickleball (we had to look it up; it’s a combination of badminton, tennis and ping pong).

A lot of you are animal enthusiasts. Aside from the many dog-lovers, you also own birds, rabbits and hedgehogs. You keep bees, and also goats. One of you is really good at shearing sheep.

You also have some impressive brags. One of you is the first woman in Western Canada to have completed an apprenticeship in printing. One of you has a father and grandfather who were involved in India’s freedom struggle under the guidance of Gandhi himself. Another “received a medal for bravery for saving a woman’s life in a float plane crash.” And one of you says you’re the antichrist.

Oh yeah, and one of you gardens naked.

Where you’re from

We’re based in Canada, so it makes sense that most of you readers live here, too. There are Tyee readers in every province and territory. Three-quarters of Canadian readers live in British Columbia. Thirteen per cent read from Ontario, and six per cent from Alberta.

However, we were quite impressed to discover that 10 per cent of our readers follow The Tyee from outside the country.

A bunch of you are our American neighbours down south, but many are also reading from Spain, Australia, Mexico, Kenya, Japan and Thailand (Sawatdee to you!).

That means there are people reading The Tyee on almost every continent. (No readers in nippy Antarctica yet, but when you get there, let us know, and we’ll send you some paper prime minster dolls to remind you of Canada.)

Why you read

As we cited above, a lot of you read us regularly.

You were particularly happy with writers who “raise hell about bad decisions” and “hold the feet of the establishment to the fire.” (You even know many writers by name!)

You were also happy with our comment pages for being full of “excellent discussions” with “amazing amounts of additional info being brought to light.” In a time where comment pages are dangerous wild cards for many publications, we’re proud to have a home where lively ideas can be exchanged.

One of you put it this way: “Your commenters tend to be kindly people refreshingly unlike the angry, often sneering people who comment on other online outlets of this kind; [it] gives me a sense of walking through a friendly neighbourhood where the dogs come out wagging their tails rather than growling.”

Thanks for letting us get to know you better, and thanks for being a smart bunch. We promise to keep “shining light under rocks,” to stay “fearless” and “relevant,” and to cover issues that other media “gloss over or ignore.”

And thanks to Brittany Vesterback for pulling together the reader survey. Kudos, Brittany!  [Tyee]

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