"Spotlight" reporters address media students

By Austin Faulds
Indiana Daily Student
February 9, 2016

http://www.idsnews.com/article/2016/02/spotlight-reporters-address-media-students

Boston globe Spotlight journalists Michael Rezendes and Sacha Pfeiffer answer questions from students in the class Behind The Prize. Rezendes and Pfeiffer were both members of the 2002 Pultizer Prize winning team for public service for their stories involving sexual abuse of young boys by Catholic priests.

Michael Rezendes and Sacha Pfeiffer, journalists recently depicted in the Oscar-nominated film “Spotlight,” spoke to Media School students Monday about their experiences in journalism.

Pfeiffer and Rezendes, along with other journalists on the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team, uncovered a series of child molestation scandals within Boston-area Catholic churches in 2002, which ultimately led to a major investigation and international reform within the Catholic Church.

“This was the worst kept secret in town, maybe in the country, maybe in the world,” Rezendes said.

In the film adaptation of their reporting, Pfeiffer and Rezendes were portrayed by Rachel McAdams and Mark Ruffalo, respectively.

Through the investigation, the number of Boston clergymen participating in the sexual assault rose from 13 clergymen to about 90.

The coverage caused massive controversy for the Catholic Church, and the Church is still facing problems with molestation af to this day.

Rezendes said he wanted to emphasize to the attendees of the event that the Boston Globe wasn’t the first toafdiscover the connection between the Church and sexual abuse, but it did expose the cover-up that kept it out of public eye.

Rezendes compared the investigation of the scandal by the Spotlight team of reporters to the investigation of Watergate thirty years earlier.

Since the team’s coverage coincided with the popularization of the Internetaf, Rezendes said the story was “the first major journalism investigation to ever go viral.

Pfeiffer and Rezendes also gave advice to the media students attending the lecture about what they can do when entering careers in journalism.

The reporters opened this part of the discussion by mentioning the pros and cons of being a reporter.

“One of the things I love about being a reporter is having access to people and places that you wouldn’t have access to otherwise,” Pfeiffer said.

Pfeiffer emphasized that access depends on a reporter’s skills. A journalist must be persistent and able to get the source out of their comfort zones.

Rezendes described the bond trust between a source and a reporter as a “romance.

“I've got to marry a source,” he said. “I need to get them to trust me.

The downside to journalism currently is the explosion of the Internet-based media, and how it significantly reduces the number of paying subscribers, Pfeiffer said.

In order to support journalism today, she said she encourages others to subscribe to various media outlets.

While journalists are encouraged to be objective in their reporting, Rezendes said emotional attachment to certain stories is inevitable. However, he urged reporters to balance their empathy with unbiased reporting.

The knowledge and stories shared by the speakers was enlightening for aspiring journalists.

“It’s really eye-opening,” said freshman John Padric Adams. “It really makes you want to go out and change the world like they have.

While he said he is a fan of the movie, Professor of Practice Tom French said he wants students to remember it is only a Hollywood adaptation and Rezendes and Pfeiffer are the real stars.

“They wouldn’t have a goddamn story if it wasn’t for the real extraordinary story these reporters covered,” he said.