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Kristen Lombardi of the Phoenix connected the dots in 2001. The Globe’s Spotlight Team debuted their series in 2002. Where’s the confusion?

By Kyle Clauss | Boston Daily | October 30, 2015

People forgo plenty of things in order to become journalists, chief among them sleep and independence from caffeine. What journos do fuss over, and with great fervor, is credit for their work. With the release of Spotlight, the star-studded early Oscar favorite chronicling the Boston Globe‘s award-winning investigation into sex abuse and subsequent coverups inside the Catholic Church, a 13-year-old debate over who deserves credit for breaking the story first has arisen again.

Kristen Lombardi, a BU alum, arrived at the Boston Phoenix in 2000 as a news and features reporter, following stints at the Brookline and Newton Tabs and the Phoenix’s sister publication in Worcester. In January 2001, Cardinal Bernard Law, the Archbishop…