'NYT' Makes 'Truth' Easier To Find, New Spots Break On TV, Online
- by Joe Mandese @mp_joemandese, April 21, 2017
The truth will be a little less hard to find beginning today as The New York Times breaks the next flight of ads in a branding campaign that originally debuted with a stark, syncopated commercial in ABC’s telecast of the Academy Awards last month.
New spots will join the original “The Truth Is Hard To Find” spot, utilizing the same
syncopated tone, but featuring footage and images of the Times' award-winning photo journalists in difficult field conditions.
The commercials, airing on TV and online, have a cinema verite feel and feature the voices of Times photographers commenting on their experiences in voiceovers.
One of the new spots, “Refugees and Immigration,” features footage and commentary by photographer Tyler Hicks on assignment documenting refugees in Lesbos, Greece.
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Another spot titled “War and Terrorism,” (below) features photographer Bryan Denton on assignment covering ISIS in Mosul, Iraq.
The ads are part of a broader campaign intended to remind readers about the hard work and tough conditions the Times’ journalists endure while covering world-shaping events and encourage support of its brand of independent journalism.
The spots are part of four new ones directed by filmmaker Darren Aronofsky. They will be complemented by print versions of the campaign appearing in the print editions of The New York Times.
Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., the publisher of The New York Times, said: “Fact-based, independent journalism is perhaps a more dangerous job now than it has ever has been, and it is also more important now than it has ever been.
“The Times has never shied away from conflict,” he added in a statement unveiling the new ads. “Whether war zones, authoritative governments, epidemics or disasters — we know that to tell the story right, we have to be there.”
This is still the best New York Times commercial:
https://www.nytimes.com/video/business/100000003509105/page-one-david-carr-confronts-vice.html
Not sure it qualifies as a commerical, but it is a great piece of content. Thanks for adding, PJ.
What difference does it make if the NYT is "being there" if they cannot provide the truth in a story they tell. Recently, the NYT sports editor, Jason Stallman, played politics with the visit of the Super Bowl champions (New England Patriots) to the White House. The Times story tried to make a comparison of photos - 2015 New England Patriots visiting the White House to meet President Obama vs 2017 New England Patriots visiting the White House to meet President Trump. The 2015 photo contained all team personnel and the 2017 photo of just the team players. Jason Stallman was making an inaccurate point. The Patriots had to notify the sports editor of his error. How do we really know the truth when the reporting does not happen in the USA and we don't have someone checking on the NYT work? NYT is big on turing routine news into political stories. I don't believe in the new advertising of the NYT. Hopefully "being there" will mean telling the truth too.
@Carleen Kelly: Couple of thoughts. 1 - I think the difference in being there is that they can get stories first hand and enable readers to understand things they wouldn't otherwise have the opportunity to. 2 - Re. the photo of the Patriots White House visit, I don't think the New York Times actually published that. I think you're referring to a photo NYTs sports editor John Stallman tweeted on Twitter, which he subsquented acknoweldged as an errort and apologized for. In terms of what the NYTs publishes, they have made plenty of mistakes in the past, and have always set the record straight when they learned about their errors. The NYTs has always supported self-criticism, including ombudsmen and a public editor to help it keep the record straight. Journalism is not an exact science, but what sets truthful news publishers apart is when they own up to their mistakes and set the record straight, even when the error was in a tweet, not in their news publication.