The Daily Tar Heel
Printing news. Raising hell. Since 1893.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024 Newsletters Latest print issue

We keep you informed.

Help us keep going. Donate Today.
The Daily Tar Heel

This editorial board historically has criticized many clubs and organizations for lacking diversity and inclusion. Now, it is our turn to be self-critical.

The Daily Tar Heel is committed to transparency and to providing educational opportunities for as many people as possible. As it stands, this newspaper is not fostering a culture encouraging cultural, economic and intellectual diversity within our walls on Rosemary Street.

The current leadership at this paper is overwhelmingly white, liberal, cisgender and able-bodied. It was a problem that we addressed at the annual DTH Editors' Retreat.

Even on this editorial board, the current editor is (and a majority of his predecessors have been) white, middle-class, liberal and male. Some editorial board members have jokingly called the opinion desk a “boys' club.” And they are right.

The DTH prides itself on thorough UNC and Chapel Hill coverage, but objectivity is a noble aspiration — one we wish to uphold, but often do not achieve in our reporting.

This paper often gives its readers a lively representation of the campus left and we have a colorful array of views to draw from. But diversity for the sake of diversity does not always translate to ideas representative of the entire ideological spectrum.

Too often in journalism, news outlets isolate themselves from conflicting perspectives. While it is worthwhile to maintain a political angle for a certain reader market, social progress necessitates a healthy discourse between opposing parties.

Diversity of color and creed is unspeakably important. The perspectives gained through the different experiences and background make our writing and staff culture all the better. But diversity in identities is not our only issue.

What the DTH, and UNC for that matter, needs is a diversity of ideology accompanied by an environment where we are encouraged to respectfully challenge each other’s views so that we may grow as communal citizens.

This is by no means the first time this board has held this conversation at the DTH. It is getting better.

But this board has never accepted “better” as a forgiving benchmark. Change needs to happen, and it needs to happen soon.

Our hope for this editorial is to make the community more aware of the issues facing this paper. It is our goal as students to promote education and opportunities, and we want the community to be involved with that.

We encourage anyone, regardless of identities or ideologies, to consider joining our paper. We also encourage people to hold us accountable via letters to the editors or by contacting our editors directly.

Possibly more importantly, we encourage the leadership, staff and this editorial board to double the paper’s efforts to seek out new networks.

As an educational paper, it is our goal to provide our readers with quality coverage written by students eager to learn.

We don’t want our own bias to stand in the way of our goals.

To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.