Support Student Journalism Through Feb. 7

A collage of old student newspapers

Before the Tar Heels and the Blue Devils face off at the Dean E. Smith Center on Feb. 7, UNC’s The Daily Tar Heel and Duke University’s The Chronicle is once again competingSupport Student Journalism in a Feb. 7 Rivalry for bragging rights in the DTH vs. Chron Rivalry Challenge, a nine-day race to see which team can raise the most money for their schools’ independent, student-led news organizations by tip-off.

The Chron beat the DTH in Rivalry 7 last year, raising $55,185 to the DTH’s $48,124, breaking the challenge tie and topping the DTH in wins 4-to-3. For Rivalry 8, which kicked off Friday, Jan. 30, and runs through tip-off Saturday, Feb. 7, the DTH will appeal to its audiences to tie the score, and the Chron will appeal to theirs to hold on to bragging rights. Over seven years, this challenge has collectively raised more than $620,000 for their nonprofit newsrooms, making a significant impact on the sustainability and futures of both organizations — a win for the students who lead editorial operations and the audiences they serve.

For the duration of the challenge, DTH and Chron teams will stoke the often-bitter and always-spirited rivalry between the two schools that sit just nine miles apart, using their platforms to poke at their rivals and to encourage their fans, alumni and readers to donate to their newsrooms. Together, they’ll produce a 32-page Rivalry Challenge special edition, which will be available on campus and mailed to donors who give at least $25 to the challenge the day ahead of the game. 

Fans of both teams can track the fundraising and catch up on great Rivalry stories at dailytarheel.com/rivalrychallenge or dukechronicle.com/rivalrychallenge.

Every dollar raised counts — both The DTH and The Chronicle publish news online daily, and the DTH has a weekly print edition. Neither organization has received funding from student fees or other university support for more than three decades, relying on advertising revenue and charitable giving to survive. Their financial independence is key to their editorial independence, which enables them to follow the stories wherever they may lead. The news they publish is free for everyone — for the students who read it daily, the local audiences and the fans flung far across the country who rely on these organizations for the most-local sports news — and the money they raise helps to pay student salaries, print newspapers, pay bills and replace equipment. 

Chronicle CEO Chrissy Murray co-founded the challenge in 2019, which started as a creative way for the “rival” organizations to secure the operating funds they both need amid uncertain shifts in the advertising revenue. 

“Though we’re competing, this is about something we all care about deeply — making sure our audiences have strong news organizations they can trust and that our student journalists have the training, resources and editorial freedom they need to do the job,” Murray says. “With all eyes on issues in higher education this year, some of the most important reporting is coming from those who are here on the sidelines asking tough questions.”

Will Lingo, executive director of The DTH, says few other Triangle news outlets cover college sports and university issues as deeply as The DTH and The Chron do, and that is a tradition worth sustaining.

“Great journalism will happen as long as we make a place for it, and the Rivalry Challenge helps us make and keep these institutions a home for that work. The DTH and The Chron are historic institutions with legacies more than a century deep. We want them around for centuries to come to keep telling these important stories in the ways only we can: from the inside.” 

Fans of both teams can track the fundraising and catch up on great Rivalry stories at dailytarheel.com/rivalrychallenge or dukechronicle.com/rivalrychallenge.

About the Challenge

For more than 100 years, the biggest rivalry in college basketball has played out in the pages of The Daily Tar Heel at UNC and The Chronicle at Duke. These two college media programs are as storied as the basketball teams they cover. Both have a tradition of excellence — they compete for awards and bragging rights, and their alumni compete for the best journalism jobs.

The first Rivalry Challenge in 2019 raised a combined $75,000 in advertising revenue and donations for the two newsrooms. The innovative idea received national attention in journalism circles and inspired similar campaigns between schools like Michigan and Ohio State, Texas and Oklahoma, Florida and Georgia, and Washington and Oregon.

Here in North Carolina, The DTH and The Chronicle are both nonprofit newsrooms committed to providing the college media experience on their campuses for the long haul. That requires investment from readers, alumni and friends as they find new sources of revenue and build sustainable businesses.