By Thomas Cottingham
Staff Writer
People tend to say that print journalism is a dying profession, but some don’t understand the importance and power that it actually holds. The Academy Award winning drama “Spotlight” demonstrates the significance of print journalism and its ability to cause change on a global scale.
The film, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, follows the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team. This team is a group of investigative journalists who reported the cover-up of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church that started back in the 1980s. The story involves four reporters, 70 local priests and over 1,000 victims. The tense subject was not an easy one to cover, especially when it came to interviewing several victims. Some even broke down into tears. But it was a story that the world needed to be told.
Similar to Alan J. Pakula’s “All the President’s Men,” “Spotlight” tells an accurate story of how journalists gather information and interviews to get the story right. Spotlight reporter Michael Rezendes, played by Mark Ruffalo, was a key figure during the lengthy investigation. Thanks to his stellar reporting, numerous interviews and acquisition of off-the-record material, Rezendes revealed that local Boston priest John Geoghan sexually abused over 100 boys over the course of 30 years in six different parishes.
The film is more about the influence of excellent reporting than just bashing the Catholic Church. Writers Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer, who both won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, wanted the film to be about the importance of journalism.
“This story isn’t about exposing the Catholic Church,” Singer said when asked by Creative Screenwriting magazine about his writing process and goals for the film. “We were not on some mission to rattle people’s faith. In fact, Singer came from a Catholic family. The motive was to tell the story accurately while showing the power of the newsroom—something that’s largely disappeared today. This story is important. Journalism is important, and there is a deeper message in the story.”
McCarthy, who also directed the film, made sure to represent the profession of writing.
“We made this film for all the journalists who have and continue to hold the powerful accountable and for the survivors whose courage and will to overcome is really an inspiration to all,” McCarthy said during his Oscars speech.
“Spotlight” captures the emotional drama of a demanding investigation that becomes even more difficult with the uncovering of each fact after each lead. The intense clues, from undercover files to door-to-door interviews, make the viewers wonder what step the reporter will take next.
Print journalism may not be as prolific as it used to be, but it is far from dead. “Spotlight” shows the importance of stories that need to be told.
cottintf4@bonaventure.edu
