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Emmy Martin sat two buildings away from a murder at the University of North Carolina campus on Monday, August 28 鈥� locked in a library for over three hours with about 30 peers in silence apart from the confusing updates of a police scanner.

Martin, editor-in-chief of the student paper The Daily Tar Heel, mapped her escape route in case an active shooter broke through the library鈥檚 glass walls. 

By midnight, Martin was finally alone, safe but at a loss for how to visualize the crisis for the paper鈥檚 front page.

Scrolling through unanswered texts and classmates鈥� online posts, she found her answer. 

鈥淭hat’s when I realized that that is what our front page had to be,鈥� Martin told 社区黑料, 鈥渂ecause those text messages 鈥� the sentiment of 鈥榓re you safe鈥� was something that was shared by everyone who experienced this, but also by anyone who has been in an active shooter situation across the nation and across the world.鈥� 

Within 72 hours, she and her Tar Heel colleagues were thrust into the national spotlight as their front page coverage from the campus shooting , reaching President Joe Biden鈥檚 desk and amassing nearly 8 million views on X, formerly known as Twitter. During what would鈥檝e been an open house to attract new staffers, editors instead shared their stories on NBC, CNN, MSNBC and PBS.

This was the front page of UNC-Chapel Hill's Daily Tar Heel.

No student, no parent, and no American should have to send texts like these to their loved ones as they hide from a shooter.

I'll continue to do all I can to reduce gun violence and call on Congress to do the same.

— President Biden Archived (@POTUS46Archive)

In what may be the darkest stream of consciousness to catalog the emotions of a generation constantly plagued by gun violence, the cover strings together text messages between students and their loved ones as chaos unfolded: 鈥淎re you safe? I wish these never happened. Someone is already shot. Run if you can. I love you.鈥� 

As the font gets smaller and smaller, reality sets in: the pain, outrage and fear is endless. 

鈥淲e wanted to tell the story of three hours and ten minutes. Of just being scared, not knowing how many people may be on campus, not knowing how many people may have died, or been injured,鈥� the Tar Heel鈥檚 print managing editor Caitlyn Yaede told 社区黑料. 

im still reeling from the events of yesterday. my heart goes out to the family and friends of the victim, as well as the entire chapel hill community. i never thought i would experience something like this and wanted to share my conversation with my mom and dad as the events unfolded.

The Daily Tar Heel is both a student-run nonprofit publication, independent of university funding, and the only print publication for Orange County, read by locals for generations.

Editors intentionally highlighted messages that would do justice to the full spectrum of emotions, choosing not to censor expletives. News organizations around the country have preserved the graphic鈥檚 language in its entirety, too. 

鈥淲e had people whose response was expletives, 鈥榃hat the F is happening?鈥� And there are people who say, 鈥業 love you, I love you so much, call me.鈥� No matter how you express that stress and overwhelming concern, that’s shared humanity. I think that the width of that and the breadth of that and the range of that is really captured in that cover,鈥� Yaede said. 

Their work struck a chord: Locally, Wednesday鈥檚 papers ran out by 1 p.m. Faculty, staff, students and community members came by the newsroom on Franklin Street in the heart of Chapel Hill to ask for more copies. 

While the nation has been exposed to frantic messages sent during shootings 鈥� notably those from and 鈥� the cover鈥檚 unique design landed like a gut punch. 

For the first 10 hours, 鈥渘othing felt right,鈥� Martin said. Editors deliberated and discarded other versions of the front page: a quote spread, or full blank page with key words like 3 hours, 10 minutes, 1 dead 鈥� which may have understated the death of associate professor Zijie Yan. 

Once they鈥檇 agreed on the string of texts, over 36 editors collaborated to gather content, collecting anonymous screenshots from peers. Yaede and Martin weeded through them to find common themes, an order, and begin transcribing. 

鈥淚f there was a moment when I was going to break down, it was reading those,鈥� Martin said. Some of the messages came from close friends. 鈥淚 can hear their voice.鈥� 

The order and jumbled nature of the texts was also intentional, 鈥渆ven if it may have not been the most straightforward approach in terms of readability,鈥� said multimedia managing editor Carson Elm-Picard. The block mimicked the experience of those on campus sitting in silent, panicked rooms receiving message after message. 

Elm-Picard helped fine tune the design throughout Tuesday, changing what would鈥檝e been a black background with light blue highlights to the final white background with black and red highlights.

鈥淭he association with Tar Blue is something that our students normally think of as a good thing. We’re proud of it. It’s like our color,鈥� Elm-Picard said. 鈥淚 saw that and I just thought that this event, this isn’t something we really want to associate with that.鈥�

Trying to heal together

The Tar Heel鈥檚 coverage spanned well beyond the graphic cover. This week鈥檚 stories included how the , and training that left many in the dark, and . 

While the coverage has been necessary, it鈥檚 also been traumatic and draining for everyone involved. Going viral was the last thing staff expected.

鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to say any of this feels good. Because it doesn鈥檛,鈥� said Elm-Picard, who grew up near Columbine High School in Colorado and is all too familiar with gun violence. He knows the site of the Aurora shooting; many of his friends attend school near the site of the Boulder grocery market shooting. 

鈥淥ur whole entire generation, it’s not really that foreign to us, but it’s different when it’s where you live and where you feel comfortable,鈥� he added.

In the Daily Tar Heel newsroom, staffers share meals, check in with each other and have been encouraged to take time off when needed. Student journalist alumni have reached out with support in droves. 

鈥淭o be honest, it鈥檚 been a horrible two days for everyone in the newsroom,鈥� Martin said. 鈥淭o see such a huge response from our community and also people across the nation has helped us keep going on.鈥�

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