The archive · Advertising · Marketing decision · 2021
NYT gives the byline's 'By' new meaning in a film about the journalists behind its truth
Droga5 built the film from journalists' own footage and sound bites so the word 'By' on every story gains its human dimension.
The New York Times
What it had to solve
The New York Times had spent years arguing that truth is worth paying for; this time it wanted audiences to meet the roughly 1,700 journalists who produce that truth. The brief was to make the byline — the small line beginning with 'By' on every story — feel human.
How it works
The word 'By' sits above every piece of journalism The New York Times publishes, yet the people behind it stay invisible. In September 2021, as journalists faced a crackdown under the Taliban in Afghanistan, the paper and Droga5 answered with a brand film that gives that single word its dimension.
'The Truth Takes a Journalist' celebrates the roughly 1,700 people behind the paper's reporting. The constantly morphing word 'By' weaves together archival footage and first-person material shot by Times journalists, layered with their own sound bites, so every scene offers a glimpse of the person — and the humanity — behind the reporting.
More than 30 journalists from both news and opinion teams appear, spanning reporters, video journalists, editors, opinion writers, bureau chiefs, photojournalists and graphics directors. The integrated campaign moved across TV and streaming, audio spots, digital billboards in New York's subways, print, social and display, and sent journalists' phone-shot footage to TikTok for the first time in the paper's history.
Why it lands
- The word 'By' appears in every piece of Times journalism, so the idea needed no explanation and belonged to the paper alone.
- Using journalists' own footage and voices made the tribute authentic rather than agency-polished.
- Spanning news and opinion — from reporters to bureau chiefs and photojournalists — made it a salute to all 1,700 people, not a few stars.
- Sending the raw phone-shot footage to TikTok extended the same honesty to a platform where the Times had never shown its journalists' work.
What it did
At a moment when journalists were under attack in Afghanistan, the film celebrated the 1,700 people behind the paper's reporting and became the first tie-winner of Campaign US' Ad of the Week. D&AD's awards archive keeps the work, with a jury member calling it a simple but strong idea with brilliant execution, perfect for the times we live in.
What you can take
Give an abstract value a concrete anchor: the word By appears in every story, so turning it into a character made 1,700 journalists feel present in each piece.
Since then
The campaign ran across TV, streaming, audio, subway digital billboards, print, social and TikTok through September 2021, and was named a winner — in a first-ever tie — of Campaign US' Ad of the Week. D&AD's awards archive keeps the film, where the jury's comment calls it a simple but strong idea and brilliant execution, making it perfect for the times we live in.
Sources
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