What does it take for reporters to uncover the truth? You can see first-hand in the Academy Award winning fact-based drama “Spotlight.” The movie recounts the efforts of The Boston Globe’s Spotlight team. A team of four journalist who investigated the sexual abuse of children by numerous Roman Catholic priests in Boston. Journalists Robby Robinson, Mike Rezendes, Sacha Pfeiffer and Matt Carroll make up the Spotlight team. They show much courage and perseverance as they pursue the story. They face many obstacles. But their determination and drive ultimately reveal secrets that have been hidden for decades.
The movie opens with a scene based in 1976 at a police station in Boston. A mother is persuaded not to press charges against a priest, Father John Geoghan, for child molestation. The police are told not to talk about the incident. Geoghan is released and sent to another assignment, where he allegedly continued with the abuse.
In 2001, a new editor-in-chief of The Boston Globe, Marty Baron, instructs the Spotlight team to pursue the child molestation story. Initially, they believed it was just a story of one priest. But soon they discover a pattern of sexual abuse by other Catholic priests. With their research, they develop a list of 87 names. All priests who likely molested children in the Boston area.
