NORTH CAROLINA
The News & Observer
BY JOHN MURAWSKI
jmurawski@newsobserver.com
Marty Baron, the newspaper editor who has overseen 10 Pulitzer Prize-winning projects, told a Raleigh audience Sunday that investigative journalism could become an endangered species if journalistic budgets continue to erode.
Baron, 61, was in town Sunday for a screening of “Spotlight,” the Hollywood account of the Boston Globe’s exposé of the Catholic Church pedophilia scandal, coverage that won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize. Now editor of The Washington Post, Baron noted that the 7-month Boston Globe investigation ultimately yielded 900 news stories during two years and cost well in excess of $1 million in legal fees, travel expenses and staff time.
The movie is being strongly reviewed for its depiction of the Globe newsroom of the era. The imperturbable, taciturn Baron depicted on the big screen represents the power of the press in a different time, before the Internet siphoned off advertisers and the invisible hand of the economy decimated many newsrooms.
In the years since Baron’s reporters uncovered the child abuse and coverup scandal, the relevance of the old-guard media has come under fire and the future nature of journalism has become the object of much speculation. Amid the endless experimentation underway with podcasting and videos and other formats, Baron said investigations must remain the soul of the newsroom.
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