Dear friends of the DTH,
The Daily Tar Heel serves two roles. The first is obvious: inform the UNC community.
The second is not as public, although if you look at a DTHer's first assignment and compare it to their last, you will see what I mean.
The DTH exists to educate journalists. To allow new journalists to thrive, to fail and to grow. It is older students teaching younger students.
It is a noble mission, but also an expensive one.
As editor, I am well aware of the fact that we often make mistakes, but that shows that we’re learning. I look back on my first stories, especially the original drafts, and laugh. They were not what I now know I am capable of writing.
We mess up, we fix it, we try not to make the same mistake again. This model has produced some of North Carolina’s and America’s most noted journalists — seriously, check our alumni list. The lessons we learn here carry over to what we go on to do.
The DTH is in an unstable financial situation, which threatens our educational mission. The threat of shutting down for good is real and something that keeps me up at night. While no amount of donations will be a permanent fix, it literally buys students more time to figure out how to move our beloved organization into the future. Love us or hate us, we produce good journalists. And that is more important now than ever.
If you’re reading this, then I imagine The Daily Tar Heel means something to you. This #givingtuesday, join us in ensuring that as long as there is a UNC-Chapel Hill, there will be a Daily Tar Heel staff to cover the stories of the day.
