Hyannis Conference Sheds Light on Child Sexual Abuse

By Cynthia McCormick
Cape Cod Times
October 17, 2019

https://www.capecodtimes.com/news/20191017/hyannis-conference-sheds-light-on-child-sexual-abuse

When Sacha Pfeiffer broke the story about the Catholic Church’s cover-up of clergy sex abuse as part of The Boston Globe’s investigative Spotlight team, silence was an enemy.

Church officials stonewalled reporters seeking answers, Pfeiffer said during a keynote talk with WCAI’s Mindy Todd Thursday as part of this year’s annual Champions for Children conference sponsored by Children’s Cove.

At one point, a spokeswoman for the church said officials would not only not answer questions, they did not even want to see them, said Pfeiffer, who with other members of the Spotlight team won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for public service.

These days the sheer amount of noise on social media can diminish the impact of important news stories, Pfeiffer said.

“People have what I consider outrage fatigue,” said Pfeiffer, who is now a reporter for NPR’s national investigative team.