NEW YORK — The New York Times will broadcast a commercial called “The Truth Is Hard” during tonight’s Academy Awards, just days after the company and other news organizations were blocked from joining an informal, on-the-record White House news briefing.
The 30-second ad includes audio from voices in the vein of news clips, talking about certain “truths,” from “the truth is our nation is more divided than ever” to “the truth is the media is dishonest.”
It is the first television advertising from the Times since 2010 and its first brand-focused television ad in a decade.
The ad closes with: “The truth is hard. The truth is hard to find. The truth is hard to know. The truth is more important now than ever.”
The clip, also posted on the Times’ official YouTube page, has more than 1.5 million views since it premiered Thursday.
Its airdate on ABC during the Oscars comes two days after the Times, the Los Angeles Times, CNN and other news organizations were blocked from a White House briefing after President Donald Trump’s spokesman, Sean Spicer, restricted the number of journalists who could attend.