UNITED STATES
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By Roy J. Harris Jr. Dec. 5, 2015
The best lessons about how journalists work come from seeing them in action. And no film ever has done a better job of showing reporters and editors in their “watchdog” role, digging out important news others want kept secret, than “Spotlight.”
The film tells the story of four members of The Boston Globe’s investigative unit, the Spotlight Team, and what happens after the Globe’s editor, on his first day on the job in 2001, has them look into the case of a defrocked Roman Catholic priest who had been repeatedly accused of sexually abusing children in his care. This leads them to investigate whether church leaders in Boston knew about the abuse by that priest and by others — and protected them by transferring them to new parishes, where they were free to harm other children.
Because the Globe did its job so well — eventually documenting shockingly widespread abuses by priests and the coverup by the Boston Archdiocese of a pervasive problem — “Spotlight” offers many lessons about the way news organizations can have a positive impact in their communities and beyond. (The Globe won the Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2003 for this work.)
The movie’s biggest lesson is that bringing about significant societal change requires courage, risk-taking, and a willingness to upset powerful people and institutions.
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