By
MARSHA MERCER
One
of the best movies of the year portrays an unlikely hero, a newspaper.
“Spotlight”
is based on the true story of The Boston Globe’s painstaking investigation,
starting in 2001, into child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests in Boston
that was covered up for decades by local church leaders.
While
not a documentary, the movie uses real names and works for verisimilitude. It keeps
its focus on journalism and on how three hard-working reporters – Sacha
Pfeiffer, Mike Rezendes and Matt Carroll -- and editor Walter “Robby” Robinson
doggedly pursued the truth and a story that was bigger than anyone imagined.
While it does not show abuse, “Spotlight” is rated R and contains
what The New York Times review called “graphic descriptions of despicable acts;
language not fit for print.”
It’s
being compared to “All the President’s Men.” That 1976 movie about dashing
young reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s uncovering the truth behind
the Watergate break-in for The Washington Post was nominated for eight Academy
Awards and won four. It inspired a generation of reporters.
Those
still working at newspapers have seen their newsrooms shrink around them like melting
ice floes as newspapers struggle to survive in the digital age. Many papers have
shut down their investigative staffs to cut costs. Surveys, though, show readers
want in-depth reporting.
Perhaps
coincidentally, trust in newspapers has ebbed to near-historic lows, Gallup
reports. Could a movie turn that trend around? Probably not, although the Los
Angeles Times announced this month that it’s restarting its investigative team.
“Spotlight”
takes place 14 years ago as the Internet is just taking off. A billboard over
the Globe’s parking lot trumpets “AOL Anywhere.” When the Globe gets a new top editor, Marty
Baron, reporters worry about layoffs.
Baron
reads a local column about a pedophile priest and puts the Spotlight team on
the story. The movie traces the team for five months as the reporters and
editor work the old-fashioned way.
They comb through stacks of paper clips from
the newspaper “morgue” and check names by hand in old diocesan directories.
They knock on doors that sometimes slam in their faces. They track down sealed
court documents.
Instead
of a few isolated cases, they discover that up to 90 pedophile priests in
Boston have been protected by the church over the years.
The
movie ends with publication of the first story on Jan. 6, 2002, about one
predatory priest and the extensive cover-up. The Globe expanded the team and wrote
600 follow-up stories on the scandal that year, detailing how priests were
shuffled from parish to parish, and victims’ families were given secret
payments in return for silence.
More
than 250 priests and brothers in Boston have been accused of abusing minors.
The
paper won a Pulitzer Prize for public service for its “courageous,
comprehensive coverage.”
“Spotlight”
doesn’t flinch in showing how the Globe earlier missed what became its biggest
story. Years before, a victim gave information about abuse, but the paper downplayed
it until Baron, who was neither from Boston nor Catholic, unleashed the
investigative team.
The
team could have done nothing, however, without the courageous abuse victims who,
one by one, agreed to share their horrifying stories in print. The paper also posted
church documents online, so that readers could see the cover-up for themselves.
The
Globe’s work led to the resignation of Boston’s Cardinal Bernard Law and the
uncovering of a worldwide scandal that still continues. At the end of the
movie, several screens list hundreds of cities and towns here and around the
world where sexual abuse by priests has been reported. Among them is Richmond, where the Times-Dispatch has reported on cases.
To learn more, www.Bishop-Accountability.org tracks
cases of sexual abuse by priests.
When
Pope Francis visited the United States in September, he met with a small group
of victims of child sexual abuse and said “God weeps” for them.
“Spotlight”
reminds us of the timeless value of investigative reporting by newspapers that
are still doing this important work. And they’re not all metropolitan papers
like the Globe.
The
Bristol Herald Courier won a Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2010 for a series
on natural gas companies withholding royalty payments from Southwest Virginia
landowners.
In
the deadline-driven Internet age, we’re fortunate that independent nonprofits
such as ProPublica and the Center for Public Integrity have taken on the
mission of investigative journalism. We need comprehensive reporting that takes
time. We need the truth.
©2015
Marsha Mercer. All rights reserved.
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