The Truth Is Worth It
The New York Times
Issue 51 | June 2019
Agency
Droga5
Creative Team
Creative Chairman David Droga Chief Creative Officer Neil Hetmann Executive Creative Director Tim Gordon Creative Directors Laurie Howell, Toby Treyer- Evans Copywriter Chase Kimball Junior Copywriter Ben Brown Junior Art Director Jackie Moran Design Director Nate Moore Designer Eli Hochberg
Production Team
Senior Project manager Caroline Kosse Junior Project manager Amanda Cohen
Other Credits
Group Account Director Curtney Russell Account Director Ola Abayomi Account Manager Tehjal Suri Global Chief Strategy Officer Johnny Bauer Head of Strategy Harry Roma´n-Torres Strategy Director Nick Maschmeyer Head of Communications Strategy Dean Challis Data Strategy Ryan Miller
Date
October 2018
Background
“The Truth Is Hard” was a brand campaign for The New York Times that set out to show the title’s commitment to quality and original journalism at a time when trust in American institutions was at an all-time low and misinformation was rife.
The newspaper wanted to continue the debate about the role of a free press and the importance of reporting the facts.
Idea
“The Truth Is Worth It” is a series of documentary films that set out to show the lengths, dedication, rigour and dangers The New York Times reporters go through in their pursuit of the truth and in holding power accountable.
One film, ‘Perseverance’, was about how reporter Caitlin Dickerson found solid evidence that children were being traumatised at US borders when they were being separated from their parents.
‘Rigour’ was the story of the team who spent 18 months getting to the bottom of President Trump’s tax affairs and ‘Resolve’ follows the journalist who got behind the lies about what was really happening to the Rohingya people in Myanmar.
The truth is being disrespected, twisted or ignored altogether. But not only is the truth itself in danger, so too are the people reporting it.
Results
Unknown
Our Thoughts
Social media is dominated, it would seem, by the extreme left and the extreme right. Make a small comment that offends some minority group and you bring down the wrath of that group upon your head with death threats and vile abuse.
Traditional media still holds the middle ground, mostly, and that’s why I am a big fan of this ‘Truth’ campaign. Print is not dead yet and this work is a clarion call to all of us to help keep it alive. The New York Times isn’t just a voice for sense but for common decency. Corruption in all forms, the perversion of justice and the abuse of power can be disguised in online channels but not in a newspaper.