In a time when the truth is being twisted, bent and sometimes forgotten, we’re showing how The New York Times brings the truth back to readers across the world. This led to the development of the “The Truth Is Worth It,” a campaign that looks to bring to light the danger, bravery, perseverance and determination that it takes to be a New York Times journalist and ultimately how that helps people better understand the world.

“The Truth Is Worth It,” ads are the latest in The Times’s “The Truth Is Hard” brand campaign series, which aims to show that original, independent journalism requires resources, time and commitment, and that subscribing to The Times is crucial in that effort.

There are New York Times journalists out there doing everything it takes to get the story and bring back the truth to help me understand the world—the subscription and the truth are worth it. The creative displays the dedication, rigor and time reporters at The Times commit to in their pursuit of truth and holding power to account. No matter the subject, no matter the story, The New York Times chases the truth with the same rigor and integrity.

This project is:
Client-commissioned

Agency
Droga5

My Role in This Project
When I was brought into this project as an art director, the concept was already sold through, but how it would be executed still needed to be developed. I worked to help define the typography rules, how should they behave, and how to balance having interesting footage/imagery with type that needs to be read and comprehended. We worked with the Times to narrow down articles we wanted to focus on and held in depth interviews with these journalists to get inside their heads. We wanted to know not only how they arrived at the final article, but how did they feel during that time. We wanted the spots to feel like true insights into the life of a journalist. As an art director, I had to work to figure out creative ways to utilize the small about of found footage we received from the journalists. This was especially hard during the "persistence" spot that highlighted the article about immigrant children being separated at the U.S. border. I wanted to keep true to the journalism and the stories of these families, but sensitive to the very real issue and the real families and children that were working through this traumatic event.