SPOTLIGHT: A Film about Why We Need In-Depth Investigative Journalists in An Era of Clickbait

This film addresses the Boston community’s complicity in the wider scandal; the victims’ lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian (another outsider, an Armenian played by Stanley Tucci) says, “If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse one.” One character says to another, “We all knew something was going on, so where were you? What took you so long?” Spotlight reminds us that we easily rationalize turning a blind eye to abuse, as scandal after scandal reveals–whether inside the Church or outside of it.

Dealing with the reality of abuse is so painful that we would rather pretend we don’t see what we do in fact see. Meanwhile, the innocent are trampled underfoot. This is particularly damaging within the Church because not only is a vulnerable child hurt by an authority figure, but they are harmed by one who represents God to them. Spiritual abuse is deeply devastating and damaging because it cuts to the core of our identity and sometimes permanently damages our ability to trust God.

When the final credits play, the film provides a list of the places other Catholic Church abuse scandals have taken place. Each screen is full of 3-4 columns of places and the list takes up four screens. The scope of the scandal is utterly horrifying and takes place on an international scale. Read through the list and chances are that you will find a place near you that had a known instance of systemic, persistent, covered-up abuse (I found two near me). It will take your breath away.

If you’re not Catholic, proceed with caution. The celibacy requirement made of Catholic priests and the hierarchy found within the Church certainly create an environment that is quite ripe for exploitation, but these kinds of systemic scandals are hardly isolated to the Catholic Church alone. Any institution with a vested interest in keeping victims quiet is at risk. Think of the varied contexts that have hit the news in recent times: the Bill Gothard scandals, the Penn State scandal surrounding Jerry Sandusky, the military sexual abuse epidemic, the abuse scandals at boarding schools that served missionary families, even the Bill Cosby scandal. In each of these situations, institutions wielded their tremendous power to protect abusers instead of to protect victims. Rationalizations were made and the wounded were discarded.

And all of this brings us back to the importance of in-depth, dedicated investigative journalism. Institutions will tend to push abuse under the rug in order to self-protect. They fear extinction and so they will naturally push away anything that challenges their existence. Institutions are in desperate need of pesky, stubborn, principled journalists to ask tough questions, annoying questions, and to keep an eye on them. This is one of the most important ways a free society provides accountability for its members. There is tremendous pressure on journalists these days, but we can all do our part to support the good ones–the ones who get out there and do the hard, unglamorous work of researching, working long hours, and making enemies by asking questions that people don’t want asked. We can all support these people by clicking on and spreading their stories. We can spend more time and energy reading the in-depth stuff instead of spending all our time on the fast food stuff. We can’t survive as a society without these people. We need them desperately.

Here’s to those annoying, cantankerous, inquisitive folks called journalists. May their tribe increase!

Which journalists do you respect most? How do you know you can trust them? Do you ever think about the hard work and lack of glamour that takes up most of their work?

How do you think we can all do our part to support the good work of such folks?

Extra: The Boston Globe is offering a free ebook about the history of the Spotlight team. You can get yours here.

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