Heidi Tworek
Research Expertise
Geographic Expertise
About
Dr. Heidi Tworek is a Canada Research Chair and professor of history and public policy at UBC. She directs the Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions. Her work examines history and policy around communications, particularly the effects of new media technologies on democracy. She is a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation as well as a non-resident fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. She co-edits the Journal of Global History.
Heidi’s interest in democracy was spurred by writing her prize-winning book, News from Germany: The Competition to Control World Communications, 1900-1945 (Harvard University Press, 2019). Alongside co-editing four volumes, Heidi has published or has forthcoming over 50 book chapters and journal articles on media and communications, global history, the history of technology, legal history, digital history, and health. She is currently working on several projects, including global platform governance, the history and policy of health communications, online harassment, and the business of deglobalization. Her research has been supported by the Canada Research Chair program, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Genome Canada, the United Nations Foundation, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), and Harvard University.
Alongside writing policy reports on topics including Covid-19 communications and online harassment, Heidi has briefed or advised officials and policymakers from governments around the world on media, democracy, and the digital economy. Her writing has been published and featured in major magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Washington Post, The Atlantic, Politico, The Globe & Mail, Süddeutsche Zeitung, The Financial Times, CNN, and many others.
She received her BA (Hons) in Modern and Medieval Languages with a double first from Cambridge University and earned her MA and PhD in History from Harvard University. Heidi has held visiting fellowships at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Bielefeld, the Transatlantic Academy in Washington DC, Birkbeck, University of London, and the Centre for Contemporary History, Potsdam, Germany. She is a member of the College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists at the Royal Society of Canada.
Teaching
Publications
Books
The Interwar World (37 chapters, London: Routledge, 2023). Co-edited with Andrew Denning.
News from Germany: The Competition to Control World Communications, 1900-1945 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2019).
Co-editor (with Teresa da Silva Lopes and Christina Lubinski), Routledge Companion to the Makers of Global Business (37 chapters, London: Routledge, 2019).
Co-editor (with Jonas Brendebach and Martin Herzer), Exorbitant Expectations: International Organizations and the Media in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (New York: Routledge, 2018).
Journal Special Issues
“Postal Traffic in Global Perspective,” Monde(s). Histoire, Espaces, Relations (September 2024). Special issue of eight articles and a book forum in English and French co-edited with Léonard Laborie.
“Digitized Newspapers,” History Lab, American Historical Review (March 2024). Special collection of six short essays, edited with an introduction by me.
“The Politics of Sovereignty in Modern Germany,” Central European History 55.1 (April 2022). Special issue of five articles co-edited with Rüdiger Graf.
Journal Articles
“Les trafics postaux dans une perspective d’histoire globale. Postaliser la mondialisation et mondialiser les réseaux postaux,” (with Léonard Laborie), Monde(s). Histoire, Espaces, Relations (September 2024), pp. 7-30.
“Digitized Newspapers and the Hidden Transformation of History,” History Lab, American Historical Review (March 2024), pp. 143-147.
“‘Frequently Asked Questions’ about Genetic Engineering in Farm Animals: A Frame Analysis,” (with Katie Koralesky, Marina A. G. von Keyserlingk, and Dan Weary), Food Ethics 9.7 (2024), 20 pp.
“Not All the News That’s Fit to Print: The New York Times as a Research Tool,” (with John Maxwell Hamilton), Political Communication 40.5 (2023), pp. 600-669.
“Damage Control: How Candidates Interpret and Respond to Online Incivility,” (with Chris Tenove, Grace Lore, Trevor Deley, Jordan Buffie), Political Communication 40.3 (2023), pp. 283-303.
“Global Dis:connctions and Communications,” in “Forum — Global Dis:Connections,” edited by Roland Wenzlhuemer, Journal of Modern European History 21.2 (2023), pp. 13-15.
“Using Animal History to Inform Current Debates in Gene Editing Farm Animals: A Systematic Review,” (with Will Wright, Marina A. G. von Keyserlingk, Dan Weary, and Katie Koralesky), Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems (August 2022), 18 pp.
“Negotiating Sovereignty in German History: Historiographical Challenges,” (with Rüdiger Graf), Central European History 55.1 (April 2022), pp. 1-14.
“Novels and Newspapers in Piketty’s Capital and Ideology,” History Compass 20.4, e12720 (April 2022), 10 pp.
“Negotiating Sovereignty in German History: Historiographical Challenges,” (with Rüdiger Graf), Central European History (accepted for publication in spring 2022).
“A Public Health Research Agenda for Managing Infodemics: Methods and Results of the First WHO Infodemiology Conference,” (with Neville Calleja et al.), Journal of Medical Internet Research (forthcoming).
“Fighting Hate with Speech Law: Media and German Visions of Democracy,” Journal of Holocaust Research 35.2 (May 2021), pp. 106-122.
“Pandemics That Changed the World: Historical Reflections on Covid-19,” (with Ewout Frankema), Journal of Global History 15.3 (November 2020), pp. 333–335.
“Oligopolies of the Past? Habermas, Bourdieu, and Conceptual Approaches to News Agencies,” Journalism: Theory, Criticism, Practice 21.2 (November 2020), pp. 1825–1841.
“Online Disinformation and Harmful Speech: Dangers for Democratic Participation and Possible Policy Responses,” (co-authored with Chris Tenove), Journal of Parliamentary and Political Law 13 (September 2019), pp. 215-232.
“Communicable Disease: Information, Health, and Globalization in the Interwar Period,” American Historical Review 124.3 (June 2019), pp. 813-842.
“The Death of News? The Problem of Paper in the Weimar Republic,” Central European History 50.3 (September 2017), pp. 328–346.
“The Natural History of the News: An Epigenetic Study,” co-authored with John Maxwell Hamilton, Journalism: Theory, Criticism, Practice 18.4 (April 2017), pp. 391–407.
“How Not to Build a World Wireless Network: German-British Rivalry and Visions of Global Communications in the Early Twentieth Century,” History and Technology 32.2 (August 2016), pp. 178–200.
“Introduction,” to “Imagined Use as a Category of Analysis: New Approaches to the History of Technology,” co-authored with Simone Müller, History and Technology 32.2 (August 2016), pp. 105–119.
“Changing the Rules of the Game: Strategic Institutionalization and Legacy Companies’ Resistance to New Media,” co-authored with Christopher Buschow, International Journal of Communication 10 (April 2016), pp. 2119–2139.
“Political and Economic News in the Age of Multinationals,” Business History Review 89.3 (Fall 2015), pp. 447–474.
“Introduction” to “The Governance of International Communications: Business, Politics, and Standard-Setting in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries,” co-authored with Simone Müller, Journal of Policy History 27.3 (July 2015), pp. 405–415.
“The Savior of the Nation? Regulating Radio in the Interwar Period,” Journal of Policy History 27.3 (July 2015), pp. 465–492.
“Editorial — Communicating Global Capitalism,” co-authored with Simone Müller, Journal of Global History 10.2 (July 2015), pp. 203–211.
“The Telegraph and the Bank: On the Interdependence of Global Communications and Capitalism, 1866–1914,” co-authored with Simone Müller, Journal of Global History 10.2 (July 2015), pp. 259–283.
“Journalistic Statesmanship: Protecting the Press in Weimar Germany and Abroad,” German History 32.4 (Winter 2014), pp. 559–578.
“Magic Connections: German News Agencies and Global News Networks, 1905–1945,” Enterprise & Society 15.4 (Winter 2014), pp. 672–686.
“The Creation of European News: News Agency Cooperation in Interwar Europe,” Journalism Studies 14.5 (October 2013), pp. 730–742.
“Peace through Truth? The Press and Moral Disarmament through the League of Nations,” Medien & Zeit
25.4 (December 2010), pp. 16–28.
“The Path to Freedom? Transocean and Wireless Telegraphy, 1914–1922,” Historical Social Research 35.1 (April 2010), pp. 209–233.
Book Chapters
“News Agencies: Instruments of Aggregation in a Disaggregating World,” in Sean Franzel, Ilinca Iurascu, Petra McGillen (eds.), Taking Stock: Media Inventories in the German Nineteenth Century (deGruyter, 2024), pp. 117-123.
“Globalgeschichte und Unternehmensgeschichte. Forschung zwischen Wohlwollen und Desinteresse,” (with Simone Müller), in Nina Kleinöder et al. (eds.), Neue Perspektiven der Unternehmensgechichte (Ferdinand Schöningh, 2024), pp. 221-242.
“Secret Press Agents: When Journalists, Propagandists, and Spies Seem Indistinguishable,” in Hans-Jakob Ziemer (ed.), Observing the Everyday: Journalistic Practices and Knowledge Production in the Modern Era (Routledge, 2022), pp. 116-136.
“Afterword: Competition during Covid-19,” in Daniela Russ and James Stafford (eds.), Competition in World Politics: Knowledge, Practices and Institutions (Bielefeld: Bielefeld University Press, 2021), pp. 289-300.
“The Impact of Communications in Global History,” in Mathias Albert and Tobias Werron (eds.), What in the World? An Interdisciplinary Exploration of Global Social Change (forthcoming, Bristol University Press, 2021).
“Coded Internationalism and Telegraphic Language,” in Jessica Reinisch and David Brydan (eds.), The Reluctant Internationalists (Bloomsbury, 2021).
“News, Propaganda, and Public Opinion from the Fin de Siècle to the Cold War,” (co-authored with Richard R. John), in Ann Blair et al. (eds.), Information: A Historical Companion (Princeton University Press, 2021), pp. 211–237. Featured in Lapham’s Quarterly.
“Policy Lessons from Five Historical Patterns in Information Manipulation,” W. Lance Bennett and Steven Livingston (eds.), The Disinformation Age: Politics, Technology, and Disruptive Communication in the United States (Cambridge University Press, 2021), pp. 169-189.
“Fake News: A Usable History,” (co-authored with John Maxwell Hamilton), in Joshua Grimm (ed.), Fake News! Misinformation in the Media (Louisiana State University Press, 2020), pp. 13-31.
“From Early Modern Moon Hoaxes to Nazi Propaganda: A Brief Anthology of Fake News,” (co-authored with John Maxwell Hamilton), in Joshua Grimm (ed.), Fake News! Misinformation in the Media (Louisiana State University Press, 2020), pp. 48-63.
“Communications and Technology,” in Paula Baker and Donald T. Critchlow (eds.), Oxford Handbook of American Political History (Oxford University Press, 2020), pp. 408-426.
“A Union of Nations or Administrations? Voting Rights, Representation, and Sovereignty at the International Telecommunications Union in the 1930s,” in Gabriele Balbi and Andreas Fickers (eds.), History of the International Telecommunication Union: Transnational Techno-Diplomacy from the Telegraph to the Internet (de Gruyter, 2020), pp. 243–264.
“Digital History and Global Publics,” in Valeska Huber and Jürgen Osterhammel (eds.), Global Publics: Their Powers and Limits, 1870-1990 (Oxford University Press, 2020), pp. 313–342.
“Scoop: The Challenge of Foreign Correspondence,” (co-authored with John Maxwell Hamilton) in James E. Katz and Kate Mays (eds.), Social Media and Journalism’s Search for Truth (Oxford University Press, 2019), pp. 133–150.
“Introduction to the Makers of Global Business,” (co-authored with Teresa da Silva Lopes and Christina Lubinski) in Teresa da Silva Lopes, Christina Lubinski, and Heidi Tworek (eds.), The Routledge Companion to the Makers of Global Business (Routledge, 2019), pp. 3-16.
“Global Communications,” (co-authored with Richard John) in Teresa da Silva Lopes, Christina Lubinski, and Heidi Tworek (eds.), The Routledge Companion to the Makers of Global Business (Routledge, 2019), pp. 315-331.
“Introduction,” (co-authored with Jonas Brendebach and Martin Herzer) in Jonas Brendebach, Martin Herzer, and Heidi Tworek (eds.), Exorbitant Expectations: International Organizations and the Media in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (Routledge, 2018), pp. 1-16.
“Protecting News before the Internet,” in Richard R. John and Jonathan Silberstein-Loeb (eds.), Making News: The Political Economy of Journalism in Britain and America from the Glorious Revolution to the Internet (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), pp. 196–222.
Book Reviews
Review of Mary Sarotte, Not One Inch: America, Russia, and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate (2021), H-Diplo (2023), pp. 19-21.
Review of Jean-Michel Johnston, Networks of Modernity: Germany in the Age of the Telegraph, 1830-1880 (2021), Central European History 56.2 (2023), pp. 312-314.
Review of Rita Zajácz, Reluctant Power: Networks, Corporations, and the Struggle for Global Governance in the Early 20th Century (2019), American Historical Review 127.3 (2022), pp. 1551-1552.
Policy Papers and Briefs
“Disinformation: It’s History,” Centre for International Governance Innovation (July 14, 2021).
“Lessons from South Korea’s Approach to Tackling Disinformation,” (with Yoojung Lee), TechStream, Brookings Institution (July 12, 2021).
“Whose Democracy Counts When Global Social Media Rules Are Set?” Centre for International Governance Innovation (June 18, 2021).
“What Can Canadian Law Makers Draw from the New UK Online Safety Bill?” (with Suzie Dunn and Will Perrin), Centre for International Governance Innovation (May 20, 2021).
“Be Part of the Solution, Not Part of the Problem: A Social Media Code of Conduct for Canadian Politicans and Political Parties,” (with Chris Tenove and Jordan Buffie), Samara Centre for Democracy, Canada (May 2021), 29 pp.
“Taiwan’s COVID-19 and Pandemic Experience: What are the Lessons for Canada?” Canadian Global Affairs Institute/Institut Canadien des Affaires Mondiales (April 13, 2021).
“Does Deplatforming Trump Set a New Precedent for Content Moderation?” (with Jameel Jaffer et al.), Centre for International Governance Innovation (January 18, 2021).
“The Dangerous Inconsistencies of Digital Platform Policies,” Centre for International Governance Innovation (January 13, 2021).
“Beyond Briefings: How Canadian Officials Can Communicate More Effectively during the Covid-19 Endgame,” (co-written with Ian Beacock), First Policy Response (January 13, 2021).
“Social Media Councils and e-Courts in Canada: Research Memo,” Canadian Commission on Democratic Expression (December 2020), 5 pp.
“Processes, People, and Public Accountability: How to Understand and Address Harmful Communication Online,” (co-written with Chris Tenove), Canadian Commission on Democratic Expression (December 14, 2020), 33 pp.
“The Promise and Peril of Anti-Pandemic Technology,” TechStream, Brookings Institution (December 10, 2020).
“When Democracy Meets Efficiency: How Communications Can End the Pandemic,” Institut Montaigne (November 5, 2020). French translation.
“Is News Property? How Digital Platforms are Resurrecting a Centuries-Old Question,” Centre for International Governance Innovation (October 30, 2020).
“Trolled on the Campaign Trail: Online Incivility and Abuse in Canadian Politics,” (co-written with Chris Tenove), Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions, UBC (October 29, 2020). Media coverage in CBC, Globe & Mail, The Tyee, Yahoo News. Appearances on CBC.
“How a Public Health Approach Could Help to Curb the Infodemic,” Centre for International Governance Innovation (October 15, 2020).
“Lessons Learned from Taiwan and South Korea’s Tech-Enabled Covid Communications,” TechStream, Brookings Institution (October 6, 2020).
“Should Big Tech be Setting the Terms of Political Speech?” (with Samantha Bradshaw et al.) Centre for International Governance Innovation (October 5, 2020).
“Covid-19 Has Democratic Lessons to Teach. Has Angela Merkel Helped Germany to Learn Them?” (with Ian Beacock and Sudha David-Wilp), Transatlantic Take, German Marshall Fund of the United States (October 2, 2020).
“Democratic Health Communications during Covid-19: A Rapid Response,” (co-written with Ian Beacock and Eseohe Ojo), Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions, University of British Columbia (September 15, 2020), 112 pages. Featured in New York Times, Financial Times Alphaville, CNN, Vice, Georgia Straight, STAT news podcast. Appearances on CBC, CJOB, CKNW, Global News BC, TVO.
“Why Doesn’t TikTok Get Policy Makers’ Attention?” Centre for International Governance Innovation (June 25, 2020).
Co-lead (with Peter Pomerantsev), Final Report Drafting Team, “Freedom and Accountability: A Transatlantic Framework for Moderating Speech Online. Final Report of the Transatlantic High-Level Working Group on Content Moderation Online and Freedom of Expression” (June 2020).
“Paris Call Community for Countering Election Interference: What Democracies Can Learn from the Government of Canada,” (co-written with David Salvo), Alliance for Securing Democracy, German Marshall Fund of the United States (May 26, 2020).
“Should There Be a Public Health Exemption for Section 230?” TechStream, Brookings Institution (May 18, 2020).
“Platforms Adapted Quickly during the Pandemic – Can They Keep It Up?” Centre for International Governance Innovation (May 14, 2020). Translated into French for Institut Montaigne (June 9, 2020).
“Why the U.S. Needs a Pandemic Communications Unit,” TechStream, Brookings Institution (April 29, 2020).
“How to Use Communications as a Medical Intervention,” German Marshall Fund of the United States (April 1, 2020).
“A New Blueprint for Platform Governance,” Centre for International Governance Innovation (February 24, 2020).
“Dispute Resolution and Content Moderation: Fair, Accountable, Independent, Transparent, and Effective,” (lead author, co-authored with Ronan Ó Fathaigh, Lisanne Bruggemann, and Chris Tenove), Transatlantic Working Group on Content Moderation Online and Freedom of Expression, Annenberg Public Policy Center at University of Pennsylvania (January 14, 2020), 34 pp.
“How Transparency Reporting Could Incentivize Irresponsible Content Moderation,” Centre for International Governance Innovation (December 10, 2019).
“How Platforms Could Benefit from the Precautionary Principle,” Centre for International Governance Innovation (November 19, 2019).
“What Does Twitter’s Ban on Political Ads Mean for Platform Governance?” (with Joan Donovan et al.), Centre for International Governance Innovation (November 5, 2019).
“Social Media Councils,” CIGI Series on Platform Governance, Centre for International Governance Innovation (October 2019).
“Disinformation and Democracy in Historical Perspective,” NATO Association of Canada/Association Canadienne pour L’OTAN (Fall 2019), pp. 15-18.
“Social Media Platforms and the Upside of Ignorance,” Centre for International Governance Innovation (September 2019).
“Looking to History for Lessons on Platform Governance,” Centre for International Governance Innovation (July 2019).
“Without Improved Transparency, Platform Regulation Is a Pipe Dream,” Centre for International Governance Innovation (July 2019).
“Internet Governance Can’t Be Divorced from Infrastructure Governance,” Centre for International Governance Innovation (July 2019). Translated into French and published by Institut Montaigne (December 2019).
“An Analysis of Germany’s NetzDG Law,” (co-authored with Paddy Leerssen), Transatlantic Working Group on Content Moderation Online and Freedom of Expression, Annenberg Public Policy Center at University of Pennsylvania and Institute for Information Law, University of Amsterdam (April 2019).
“The Next North American Election: How Canada is Protecting Itself and What Can Still be Done,” (co-authored with David Salvo), Alliance for Securing Democracy, German Marshall Fund of the United States (March 2019).
“How a Standards Council Could Help Curb Harmful Online Content,” (co-authored with Fenwick McKelvey and Chris Tenove), Policy Options (February 2019).
“Poisoning Democracy: How Canada Can Address Harmful Speech Online” (co-authored with Chris Tenove and Fenwick McKelvey), Public Policy Forum (November 2018), 34 pp.
“What the History of Radio Tells Us about Technology and Democracy,” Chatham House (October 2018).
“Communications and the Integrity of Elections,” The Global Exchange (September 2018).
“How History Helps Us to Uncover the Real Successes of Middle Power Internationalism,” Centre for International Policy Studies, University of Ottawa (July 2018).
“Responsible Reporting in an Age of Irresponsible Information,” Alliance for Securing Democracy, German Marshall Fund of the United States (March 2018), 10 pp.
“Suspicious Minds: U.S.-German Relations in the Trump Era,” (co-authored with Frédéric Bozo et al.) Transatlantic Academy (May 2017), 34 pp.
“Gemeinsam mit den Guten. Wie ein EU-Handelsabkommen mit Kanada zum Wertepaket wurde,” Internationale Politik (May/June 2017): 53-57.
“Kommunikation in der Ära von Fake News,” Zukunftsinstitut Politics & PR 4.0 (April 2017).
“Why Germany Might Take a Maple Leaf out of Canada’s Book,” Transatlantic Academy (March 10, 2017).
“Approaching Trump,” (with Sir Michael Leigh, Stefan Fröhlich, and Joshua Walker), German Marshall Fund (March 8, 2017).
“Political Communications in the ‘Fake News’ Era: Six Lessons for Europe,” Transatlantic Academy Policy Brief (February 13, 2017).
“The European Union Clashes with Google over Copyright,” German Marshall Fund Transatlantic Take (October 11, 2016).
Media Publications
“In Pandemic Communications, the Learning Curve Is Strangely Absent,” Centre for International Governance Innovation (December 3, 2021)
“Could E-Courts Help Fix Facebook’s Inadequate Oversight Board?” Centre for International Governance Innovation (October 29, 2021)
“Facebook’s America-Centrism Is Now Plain for All To See,” Centre for International Governance Innovation (October 4, 2021)
“Stopping the Hostile Online Attacks Hurled at Candidates,” (with Chris Tenove), Policy Options (September 13,2021)
“Why Female Political Candidates in Canada Are Receiving More Toxicity on Twitter,” Global News (August 29, 2021)
“Vaccine Hesitancy,” The National, CBC (July 26, 2021).
“Health Communications and Trust,” CBC Daybreak South (June 10, 2021).
“Health Communications during Covid-19,” Interrobang: A Writing Podcast, UBC (June 9, 2021).
“Vaccine Hesitancy and Communications,” Spice Radio (June 4, 2021).
“Stories, Statistics, and Authenticity in Health Communications,” Beyond Disinformation, Social Sciences Research Council (May 25, 2021).
“Why We Need to Change the Narrative on Outdoor Transmission,” (with Zain Chagla and Sumon Chakrabarti), Toronto Star (April 12, 2021).
“Why Disease Names Matter,” Globe & Mail (March 24, 2021).
“Simply Talking about the Pandemic the Right Way Can Help Rebuild American Democracy,” (with Ian Beacock), The New Republic (December 24, 2020).
“A Year of News Mocktails,” Predictions for 2021, Nieman Lab (December 2020).
“What We Can Learn from Covid Communications in Other Countries,” (with Ian Beacock and Eseohe Ojo), Policy Options (November 5, 2020).
“Ontario’s Covid-19 Messaging Needs a Reset: Here is What to Do,” (with Ian Beacock) Ottawa Citizen (October 20, 2020).
“B.C. Shouldn’t Be Afraid of a Pandemic Election – It Could Strengthen Our Democracy,” (with Ian Beacock) The Province (September 29, 2020).
“Leaving Big Tech to Govern Themselves Doesn’t Work. They’re Getting Even Worse,” The Independent (August 7, 2020).
“Getting Your Book Read When You’re a Humanities Scholar,” (interview of me by Letitia Henville), University Affairs (May 15, 2020).
“Pandemics and History – a Roundtable on COVID-19 and Its Historical Connections (with John Christopoulos, Robert Brain, and Timothy Brook),” UBC History Department (May 3, 2020).
“When a Virus is the Cause, Racism is Often the Symptom: Q&A with Heidi Tworek,” UBC News (February 25, 2020). Reprinted in Richmond News.
“The Year of Positive Pushback,” Predictions for 2020, Nieman Lab (January 2, 2020).
“Canada Needs a Social Media Council to Help Solve Complex Problems with Online Content Moderation,” Re$earch Money (December 11, 2019).
“News from Germany,” TRAFO: Blog for Transregional Research (August 14, 2019).
“Falsche Nachrichten hat es immer gegeben: Ein Interview zwischen Heidi Tworek und Georg Ismar,” Der Tagesspiegel (August 3, 2019).
“Government-Imposed Internet Blackouts Are A Power Move to Suppress Dissent,” The Conversation (June 24, 2019).
“Author Q&A: Informational Wars,” Vancouver Sun (June 22, 2019).
“A Lesson from 1930s Germany: Beware State Control of Social Media,” The Atlantic (May 26, 2019).
“Information Warfare is Here to Stay: States Have Always Fought for the Means of Communication,” Foreign Affairs (April 2019).
“News from Germany: The Competition to Control World Communications, 1900-1945,” The Page 99 Test (April 2019).
“Informationskriege,” Internationale Politik (March/April 2019), pp. 122-129.
“We Can’t Rely Solely on Silicon Valley to Tackle Online Hatred,” (co-authored with Chris Tenove and Fenwick McKelvey), Globe & Mail (November 12, 2018).
“Quietly, One of Trump’s Tariffs Threatens Democracy,” Washington Post (September 11, 2018).
“L’âge d’or des médias: une exception historique?,” Ina Global (September 4, 2018).
“Als ob Flüchtlinge Touristen wären,” Süddeutsche Zeitung (June 20, 2018), p. 2.
“Why the ‘Golden Age’ of Newspapers was the Exception, Not the Rule,” (co-authored with John Maxwell Hamilton), Nieman Lab (May 2, 2018).
“What Europe Can Teach Canada about Protecting Democracy,” (co-authored with Chris Tenove), The Conversation (April 5, 2018).
“Tweets are the new Vox Populi,” Columbia Journalism Review (March 27, 2018).
“Is Germany’s Foreign Minister Having a Chrystia Freeland Moment?” The Conversation (January 8, 2018).
“Nicht bei der Verteidigung sparen!” (co-authored with Niklas Helwig) ZEIT Online (October 30, 2017).
“Foreign Propaganda is a Problem Again, But Maybe a Smaller One than We Think,” Made by History, Washington Post (October 3, 2017).
“Die Probleme mit Freihandelsabkommen,” Der Tagesspiegel (August 7, 2017), p. 6. Appeared online as “Nichts aus den Fehlern gelernt,” Der Tagesspiegel (August 30, 2017).
“Privacy Shapes Our News,” Goethe Institute, Washington DC (June 22, 2017).
“How to Make Facts Matter Again,” OECD Yearbook 2017 (June 2017).
“How Germany is Tackling Hate Speech,” Foreign Affairs (May 16, 2017).
“Cambridge Analytica, Trump, and the New Old Fear of Manipulating the Masses,” Nieman Lab (May 15, 2017).
“Microsoft is Right: We Need a Digital Geneva Convention,” Wired (May 9, 2017).
“How to Spend It: Three Simple Suggestions to Increase German Military Spending,” War on the Rocks (May 2, 2017).
“Was Deutschland von Kanada lernen kann: Die Trump-Diplomatie,” Der Tagesspiegel (March 9, 2017).
“What Makes Health Special?” Invited Blog Post for Reluctant Internationalists, Birkbeck, University of London (December 19, 2016).
“Why the History of News Explains its Future,” (co-authored with John Maxwell Hamilton) The Conversation (May 17, 2016).
Contributor, “What Can One Photo Tell Us about the Media and 2016?,” Politico Magazine (May/June 2016).
“Lab Partners: Experimenting with Active Learning,” (co-authored with Gabriel Pizzorno) Perspectives on History. The Newsmagazine of the American Historical Association (April 2016), pp. 23-24.
“From World Health to World Heritage: Seventy Years of the United Nations,” UN Chronicle 52 (September 2015).
“Das Märchen vom Schicksalstag,” (co-authored with Thomas Weber) Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (November 8, 2014).
“History Lessons: Why Germany’s ‘Google Tax’ Won’t Work,” (co-authored with Christopher Buschow) Nieman Reports (October 23, 2014).
“Does England Have the Solution to the Grade-Inflation Problem?” The Atlantic (October 20, 2014).
“Wettbewerbsvorteile durch Gesetzgebung? Debatten zum Nachrichtenschutz im Wandel der Zeit,” (co-authored with Christopher Buschow) Der Digitale Wandel – Magazin für Internet und Gesellschaft 1.2 (August 2014), pp. 14–16.
“LSR: Wiederholt sich die Geschichte?” (co-authored with Christopher Buschow) Vocer, iRights, and Golem (July 2014).
“Writing a Student Evaluation Can Be Like Trolling the Internet: How a Long-Despised University Tradition Can Be a Chance to Teach Civility,” The Atlantic (May 21, 2014).
“The Real Reason the Humanities are ‘in Crisis’,” The Atlantic (December 18, 2013).
Interviews and blog posts about the United Nations History Project website on US History Scene, Humanitarianism and Human Rights, Russian International Affairs Council, UN Dispatch, and the United Nations Foundation blog.
Interviews, quotes, and background discussions: CBC, CNN, Committee to Protect Journalists, CTV, Der Tagesspiegel, Deutsche Welle, E&T Magazine (Engineering & Technology Magazine), El País, El Universal, Exberliner, Financial Times, Influence, Kelowna Capital News, La Tercera, Maclean’s, Metro News Vancouver, Ming Pao, Morning Consult, National Journal Research, National Observer (Canada), News 1130, NPR’s On the Media, PassBlue, Politico, Reuters, Star Vancouver, Talking Points Memo, The New Republic, The Telegraph, The Tyee, Toronto Star, Vice.
Work featured by CBC, CTV, Financial Times, Québec Science, The Ubyssey.
TV, Radio, and Podcasts
“Why Is the Vaccination Rate in the Interior and Northern Health Regions Relatively Low?” The Jas Johal Show (July 28, 2021)
“Vaccine Hesitancy Between Family Members,” The Early Edition with Stephen Quinn, CBCListen (July 28, 2021)
“Communicating around Vaccines,” (with Navdeep Grewal), CBC Early Edition, Vancouver (May 5, 2021).
“Vaccine Communications,” The Daily Edition with Matt Gurney, Sirius XM 167 Canada Talks (May 3, 2021).
“Vaccine Registration Mix-Up,” CTV Vancouver News at Six (May 2, 2021).
“A Rocky Rollout,” CTV National News (May 1, 2021).
“Importance of Remaining Vigilant after First Vaccine Shot,” CTV National News (April 28, 2021).
“Doug Ford Apologizes,” #onpoli Podcast, TVO (April 27, 2021).
“Covid-19 and Social Media Communication,” CityNews Vancouver (April 7, 2021).
“Public Health Messaging and Behaviour,” CBC News Network with Natasha Fatah (April 4, 2021).
“Covid Communications and New Restrictions in BC,” Jill Bennet Show, CKNW (March 30, 2021).
“Threats against Bonnie Henry,” Lead item on CBC Vancouver News at 6 (February 25, 2021).
“Covid-19 and Pandemics in History,” Chris Walker Show, CBC Kelowna (February 23, 2021).
“BC Health Communications,” Lynda Steele Show, CKNW (February 22, 2021).
“BC Health Communications and ScienceUpFirst,” All Points West, Radio West, and On the Coast, CBC (January 26, 2021).
“BC Health Communications,” The Jill Bennett Show, CKNW (January 26, 2021).
“The Challenges of Internet Regulation,” The Law Bytes Podcast with Michael Geist (January 25, 2021).
“Covid-19: The Path Forward,” (with Stefan Baral and Zain Chagla), Solving Healthcare with Kwadwo Kyeremanteng (January 21, 2021).
“Covid-19 Communications One Year On,” Lynda Steele Show, CKNW (January 18, 2021).
“Covid-19 Communications,” (with Kulpreet Singh), On the Coast with Gloria Macarenko, CBC Vancouver (January 8, 2021).
“Covid-19 Restrictions and Communications,” BC Today with Michelle Eliot, CBC (January 7, 2021).
“The Distant Prayers Podcast,” (with Eseohe Ojo, Yoojung Lee et al.), Distant Prayers Research Project at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies at UBC (December 21, 2020).
“Covid-19 and Vaccine Hesitancy,” Spice Radio (December 16, 2020).
“COVID-19: Communication Strategies to Engage People, Promote Vaccination, and More,” Solving Healthcare with Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng (December 15, 2020).
“Vaccines and Disinformation,” CTV Montreal (December 13, 2020).
“Vaccines and Disinformation,” CBC News Network (December 12, 2020).
“What Leaders Say in a Pandemic: What Works, What Doesn’t,” Ontario Today with Rita Celli, CBC (December 2, 2020).
“Science, Politics, and the Pandemic,” (with Stephen Meek and Jim Talbot), The Current with Matt Galloway, CBC (December 2, 2020). CBC write-up here.
“Covid-19 Communications and Resilience,” BC Today with Michelle Eliot, CBC (December 1, 2020).
“Health Communications in BC,” The Lynda Steele Show, CKNW (November 30, 2020).
“Pandemic Communications,” CBC New Brunswick (November 23, 2020).
“Departures Podcast with Heidi Tworek,” Amsterdam & Partners LLP (November 13, 2020).
“Confusion over BC Covid Guidelines,” CBC All Points West, On the Coast, Radio West, CBC Vancouver Evening News, and CBC (November 9, 2020).
“New Covid Guidelines in BC,” Global News BC (November 8, 2020).
“Online Harassment and Politics,” CBC All Points West, On the Coast, and Radio West (October 29, 2020).
“Pandemic Communications: In Need of a Reset,” (with Colin Furness, Amanda Galbraith, Matt Gurney), The Agenda with Steve Paikin, TV Ontario (October 28, 2020).
“Covid-19 Communications in Ontario,” (with Ian Beacock), CBC Ottawa (October 21, 2020).
“Facebook and Election Integrity in British Columbia,” C-FAX (October 20, 2020).
“Election Special,” (with Dipayan Ghosh) Scientific Sense (October 17, 2020).
“Women and Politics in BC,” C-FAX (October 13, 2020).
“Ontario’s Covid Communications,” #onpoli Podcast, TVO (September 29, 2020).
“Comparing BC’s Covid-19 Communications,” Global News BC (September 20 2020).
“Covid-19 Communications in Democracies,” CJOB with Geoff Currier (September 18, 2020).
“Pandemic PR,” The Readout LOUD, STAT News (September 17, 2020).
“Covid-19 Communications around the World,” The Jill Bennett Show, CKNW (September 15, 2020).
“Conspiracy Theories in the Past and Coronavirus,” On the Coast with Gloria Macarenko, CBC Vancouver (July 31, 2020).
“How to Talk to Young People about Coronavirus,” Global BC News with Sonia Deol (July 25, 2020).
“Young People and Coronavirus,” Early Edition with Stephen Quinn (July 24, 2020), CBC Vancouver and CBC Vancouver Island (July 28, 2020).
“A Skeptic’s Guide to Democracy,” Writ Large, Lyceum podcasts (April 29, 2020).
“On Trusting Public Health Communications,” Financial Times Alphaville (April 17, 2020).
“Masks and Coronavirus,” BC Today with Michelle Eliot, CBC Vancouver (March 31, 2020).
Segment on 5 CBC stations in British Columbia on health communications around coronavirus (March 24, 2020).
Coronavirus disinformation, segment on Spice Radio, Vancouver (March 12, 2020).
“How This CBC Story Turned into a Coronavirus Conspiracy Theory,” CBC News (January 28, 2020).
“BC’s First Presumptive Case of Coronavirus,” BC Today with Michelle Eliot, CBC Vancouver (January 28, 2020).
“Concerns about Facebook’s Banning Deepfake Videos,” The National, CBC (January 7, 2020).
“Our Brains on Facebook,” Attention Control with Kevin Newman (October 14, 2019).
“Bots, Trolls, and Defending Our Election,” Canadian Global Affairs Institute (October 8, 2019).
“The Evolution of Disinformation,” The Spark, CBC Radio (October 6, 2019).
“Paying for Your Attention: Who’s Putting Political Ads in Your Newsfeed?” CTV Vancouver (October 2, 2019).
“How the Internet is Impacting Democracy,” CTV Morning Live, Vancouver (October 1, 2019).
“The Struggle to Write the Rulebook for Social Media,” Global Translations podcast (with Rep. Ro Khanna, Commissioner Vera Jourova, et al.), Politico (July 25, 2019).
“Published Opinion Is Not Public Opinion,” David Pakman Show (June 18, 2019).
“News from Germany,” New Books Network (June 17, 2019).
“YouTube Moves to Ban Neo-Nazi and Holocaust-Denying Videos,” CBC News Network (June 8, 2019).
“Misinformation Station,” Connected and Disaffected (May 21, 2019).
“Christchurch Call and Online Extremism,” CBC News Network (May 14, 2019).
“Social Media Apocalypse Now,” The Good Fight, Slate (April 10, 2019).
“Germany’s Quest to Control the News,” The American Interest Podcast (April 9, 2019).
“Disinformation in Perspective,” EUScream (March 31, 2019).
“Information Wars, Past and Present,” Late Night Live, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) (March 26, 2019).
“Social Media Bots,” Communications Governance Observatory, McMaster University (December 3, 2018).
“Building a Made-in-Canada Solution to Harmful Online Hate,” The Spark, CBC Radio (November 16, 2018).
“Rhetorik der CSU auf dem Prüfstand,” (CSU Rhetoric under Scrutiny) Tagesthemen, ARD (June 26, 2018).
“Fake News and the Rise of Information Warfare,” The Global Exchange (June 11, 2018).
“Twitter Isn’t the Voice of the People and Media Shouldn’t Pretend It Is,” The Spark, CBC Radio (April 6, 2018).
“The New Old Fear of Media,” Connected and Disaffected (March 28, 2018).
“Net Neutrality,” Mark Leonard’s World in 30 Minutes, European Council on Foreign Relations (December 18, 2017).
“Facebook, Politics, and Foreign Influence,” The Spark, CBC Radio (October 22, 2017).
“Freedom of Speech and Populism,” The Brainstorm podcast (with Hans Kundnani and Yascha Mounk), Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (August 21, 2017).
“Securing a Digital Battlefield,” .Future Podcast (June 28, 2017).
“The Future of Ransomware and the Networked World,” The Spark, CBC Radio (May 21, 2017).
“Women at the United Nations,” Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio 4 (February 3, 2017).
“Unpicking the United Nations,” (with Lord Mark Malloch Brown, Jussi M. Hanhimäki, and Carolyn Medel-Anonuevo), The Forum, BBC World Service (November 20, 2016).
“The United Nations at 70: Then & Now,” (with Susan Pedersen, Ambassador John Negroponte, Nina Khrushcheva, William Cohen, Ian Hurd, and Matthew Russell Lee) Huffington Post Live (October 24, 2015).
Panel Discussion Participant, “Are the Humanities in Crisis?,” KCRW (December 27, 2013).
Regular appearances since 2017 on radio and TV on CBC News Network, CBC Radio, CTV, City TV Vancouver, CJOB (Winnipeg), CKNW (Vancouver), Euronews, National Post Radio, News1130 (Vancouver), Ottawa Today 1310, Spice Radio Vancouver, 900 CHML (Hamilton, Ontario).
Policy Reports and Research Memos
“Mpox Communications: A Queer Pandemic,” (with Joseph Flores), Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions, UBC (November 2023), 75 pp.
“Beyond Technology: The Role of Information Interference in Climate and Election Obstruction,” (with Sonja Solomun), Centre for Media, Technology, and Democracy/Public Policy Forum (August 2023).
“Responding to Online Abuse: What We Heard from Health Communicators,” (with Chris Tenove, Sabah Haque, Hanna Hett, Oliver Zhang), Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions, UBC (June 2023), 14 pages.
“Platform://Democracy – Perspectives on Platform Power, Public Values and the Potential of Social Media Councils: Research Report Americas,” (co-edited with Matthias C. Kettemann and Josefa Francke), Hamburg: Hans-Bredow-Institute (May 2023), 54 pp., doi: 10.21241/ssoar.86526.
“Overview Report: Online Hate in the Pandemic,” (with Chris Tenove) and “Case Study: Hate and Harassment Targeting Health Communicators,” (with Chris Tenove, with research assistance from Wilson Dargbeh, Hanna Hett, and Oliver Zhang), British Columbia Office of the Human Rights Commissioner (June 2022), 50 pp.
“From Flies to File Storage: Policy Issues in the Life-Cycle of Explanatory Journalism,” (with Sabrina Wilkinson, Elizabeth Dubois, Elizabeth Ren, Lui Xia Lee), Pol Comm Tech Lab, University of Ottawa (November 4, 2021), 30 pp. Media coverage in JSource.
“Impact of COVID-19 on Language and Literacy in Canada,” (with Janet Werker et al.), Royal Society of Canada (August 2021).
“Digital Regulation May Have Bolstered European Elections — but How Would We Know?,” Centre for International Governance Innovation (June 28, 2024).
“What Lessons Did Canada Learn before Creating Its Online Harms Bill?,” (with Chris Tenove), TechPolicyPress (March 12, 2024).
“What Will the Series of Pivotal Elections in 2024 Mean for Democracy?,” (with Chris Tenove), Centre for International Governance Innovation (February 1, 2024). First in a series on elections and social media in 2024 co-organized with CIGI.
“Introduction,” (with Taylor Owen), CSDI and Centre for Media, Democracy, and Technology (McGill University) (June 2023).
“Public Values and Private Orders in Social Media Councils,” Introduction to Nine Articles in Matthias Kettemann, Heidi Tworek, and Josefa Francke (eds.), Platform://Democracy – Perspectives on Platform Power, Public Values and the Potential of Social Media Councils: Research Report Americas, Hamburg: Hans Bredow Institute (May 2023).
“As Digital Trade Expands, Data Governance Fragments,” (with Panthea Pourmalek and Yves Tiberghien), Centre for International Governance Innovation (February 9, 2023). Discussed in a Twitter Space on February 14, 2023.
“Can Elections Survive the Digital Age?” (with Panthea Pourmalek and Yves Tiberghien), Centre for International Governance Innovation (January 5, 2023).
“History Provides Insights into the Future of Cattle Breeding,” (with Will Wright, Marina A.G. von Keyserlingk, Katherine E. Koralesky, and Daniel M. Weary), Milk Producer Magazine (Fall 2022), p. 19.
“Platform Transparency Requires Research — but Who Will Do It?” Centre for International Governance Innovation (September 22, 2022).
“Can We Move beyond Disinformation Studies?” Centre for International Governance Innovation (August 2, 2022). Translated into Portuguese here.
“Platform Governance Needs a Global Response,” (with Nanjala Nyabola and Taylor Owen), Centre for International Governance Innovation (June 13, 2022).
“One Way to Fight Disinformation is to Provide Something Better,” Centre for International Governance Innovation (June 6, 2022).
“Communications, Technology and Canadian Foreign Policy,” in Essay Series on “Situating Canada in a Changing World,” Centre for International Governance Innovation (April 25, 2022).
“Will War Propel or Delay the Global Push to Reform Social Media?,” (with Blayne Haggart et al.), Centre for International Governance Innovation (April 7, 2022).
“The Path Dependency of Infrastructure: A Commonly Neglected Aspect of Platform Governance,” Project for Peaceful Competition, King’s College London, and Centre for International Governance Innovation (February 14, 2022).
“Time for Transparency from Digital Platforms, But What Does That Really Mean?,” (with Alicia Wanless), Lawfare, Brookings Institution (January 20, 2022).
“As Omicron Surged, So Did Abuse of Health Communicators Online,” Centre for International Governance Innovation (January 12, 2022). Reprinted in Electronic Healthcare Law Review 12.3 (February 2023), pp. 29-32.
“History Explains Why Global Content Moderation Cannot Work,” TechStream, Brookings Institution (December 10, 2021).
“In Pandemic Communications, the Learning Curve is Strangely Absent,” Centre for International Governance Innovation (December 3, 2021).
“Could E-courts Help Fix Facebook’s Inadequate Oversight Board?” Centre for International Governance Innovation (October 29, 2021).
“Facebook’s America-Centrism is Now Plain for All to See,” Centre for International Governance Innovation (October 4, 2021).
“Stopping the Hostile Online Attacks Hurled at Candidates,” (with Chris Tenove), Policy Options/Options Politiques (September 13, 2021).
“Open Access to Data Is Critical in a Democracy,” Centre for International Governance Innovation (August 25, 2021).
“Animal History and Animal Welfare Science: Multidisciplinary Work and Mutual Learning,” (with Will Wright, Nina von Keyserlingk, Katie Koralesky, and Dan Weary), Network in Canadian History & Environment/Nouvelle initiative Canadienne en histoire de l’environnement (October 20, 2022).
“Living in an Interwar World: Communicable Disease and Epidemic Information,” Long Run Health Matters (October 9, 2022).
“Scholar Spotlight: Dr. Heidi Tworek,” Public Humanities Hub, UBC (July 19, 2022).
“The Online Abuse and Harassment of Women in Politics Must Stop,” Globe & Mail, (July 4, 2022), A6.
‘The Use and Abuse of History,” Körber History Forum in “e-Paper: A New Global Order? History and Power Politics,” (July 2022), pp. 24-25.
Media Appearances
Heidi appears regularly on radio, TV, and podcasts, including CBC, BBC, CTV, STAT News, and many others. She has provided interviews, quotes, and background discussions for publications including: ABC News, Canadian Press, CBC, Chatelaine, CNN, Committee to Protect Journalists, CTV, Der Tagesspiegel, Deutsche Welle, E&T Magazine (Engineering & Technology Magazine), El País, El Universal, Exberliner, FDANews, Financial Times, Georgia Straight, Globe & Mail, Influence, Kelowna Capital News, La Tercera, Maclean’s, Metro News Vancouver, National Journal Research, National Observer (Canada), National Geographic, National Post, Nature, Nieman Reports, NPR’s On the Media, PassBlue, Politico, Reuters, Saskatoon Star Phoenix, Squamish Chief, Star Vancouver, STAT News, Talking Points Memo, The New Republic, The Spinoff, The Telegraph, The Tyee, Toronto Star, Vancouver Sun, Veja, Voice of America, WebMD.
Awards
Ralph Gomory Prize, Business History Conference (2020)
Wiener Holocaust Library Fraenkel Prize (2020)
Honorable Mention, Council for European Studies Book Award (2020)
Herman E. Krooss Prize for Best Dissertation in Business History (2014)
Harvard University Certificate of Distinction in Teaching (awarded 12 times, 2008-2015)
Affiliations
Non-Resident Fellow, Canadian Global Affairs Institute
Non-Resident Fellow, German Marshall Fund of the United States
Editorial Board, Histories of Internationalism series, Bloomsbury Press
Editorial Board, Global Connections: Roots and Routes, Leiden University Press
Term Member, Council on Foreign Relations
Affiliate, Graduate Program in Science and Technology Studies, UBC