This film looks to shed light on the rigor behind journalism and why it's all worth it. It’s a piece of

work about pursuing the truth wherever it may lead and bringing that truth back in word form for

the world to read. In this film, we show the perseverance of immigration reporter Caitlin Dickerson

as she exposes a policy of family separation at the Mexico-US border, which was vehemently

denied by the government. The spot was released at a time of polarizing discussions about

immigration, making it even more critical to reiterate the importance of the truth and the value of

NYT journalism.

This was a story that launched at a time the issue of immigration and family separation were hotly

debated. The script had to bring the emotion of this heavy story while balancing the journalistic

integrity of The New York Times . The script puts us in the reporter's stream of consciousness,

adopting her tone of voice while also maintaining The Times ’s inimitable house style . The script, a

connected thread of words that appears on screen, creating the effect of a continuously rewriting

headline, was central to putting the viewer in the psyche of the journalist as she ventured into the

complex world of government sources and immigrant shelters.

This film looks to shed light on the rigor behind journalism and why it's all worth it. It’s a piece of work

about pursuing the truth wherever it may lead and bringing that truth back in word form for the world to

read. At the core of the film is a single, connected thread of animated words that appear on-screen as

though viewers are seeing a continuous writing and rewriting of headlines. Throughout the piece, the

haunting voice of White House Chief of Staff John Kelly’s “ Can’t imagine doing it” is used as a motif, and

it seemingly becomes what drives the journalist to get to the bottom of the story. The motif becomes more

distant as the journey and film progress and the journalist gets closer to the truth behind the separation of

children at the border.