In a time when life itself has come into sharp focus, understanding the world and having the correct facts and the right information have never been more essential than now. The truth can help guide us through life, help us see and help us learn to understand and navigate the world we live in. Now is the time when the power of good, quality, independent journalism is needed the most. This insight led to the “Life Needs Truth” work, the next iteration of “The Truth Is Essential” campaign that looks to show New York Times journalism as part of the fabric of life and the issues of our time—how it can guide us every day, from daily news to podcasts, opinions to cooking, technology to home. This work looks to capture the current time in America through the lens of Times reporting—it responds to the idea that, in times like these, we all need journalism to help us process the world.
The film work is a poem about life crafted from Times journalism and structured over five verses. Built with words lifted from New York Times reporting, the headlines come together to rhythmically tell the story of the time we are living in.
Set to the sound of Makaya McCraven’s jazz, his music, combined with the sound of typing, looks to put the infectious rhythm, cadence and rhyme structure of the writing and the story in the viewer’s head.
For every part of our chaotic and upended lives, there is a piece of journalism to help bring clarity and guidance to it.
The film work was directed in partnership with director Kim Gehrig. Tom Lindsay of Trim/Cosmo Street edited.
