The New York Times defends “the truth”
The New York Times will air its first TV ad in seven years during the Academy Awards, as the paper looks to highlight independent journalism amid US President Donald Trump’s attacks on the media as “fake news”.
President-elect Donald Trump (left) and New York Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. during a meeting with editors and reporters in New York last year. Photo: Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times via AP
The Oscars is traditionally the most-watched non-sports event broadcast in the United States.
Since Trump’s election victory, the Times has seen an uptick in digital subscribers and revenue even as its business on the print side declines.
During the Times’ most recent quarter, the paper added 276,000 digital subscribers and grew digital ad revenue by nearly 11 per cent, accounting for more than 40 per cent of its overall ad revenues.
The New York Times, the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal and Gannett Co are building on the online readership they gained during the 2016 presidential election by marketing unbiased reporting as a sales strategy.
Trump has repeatedly bashed the press. In a tweet last week citing The New York Times, NBC, ABC, CBS and CNN, he said the media was “the enemy of the American People!”
The New York Times commercial is part of a broader brand campaign, the paper’s first in a decade, that aims to position the newspaper as a reliable outlet in the face of the rise of the “fake news” epidemic.
The company’s 30-second commercial repeats the words “The Truth Is…” on screen, with voices in background getting increasingly louder, with different endings including “our nation is more divided than ever” and “alternative facts are lies.”
The ad ends with: “The Truth is more important now than ever.”
– Reuters
