{"id":7177,"date":"2022-05-02T09:48:14","date_gmt":"2022-05-02T13:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/?p=7177"},"modified":"2025-08-23T17:39:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T21:39:15","slug":"secrets-revealed-in-spotlight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2022\/05\/02\/secrets-revealed-in-spotlight\/","title":{"rendered":"Secrets Revealed in \u2018Spotlight\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What does it take for reporters to uncover the truth? You can see first-hand in the Academy Award winning fact-based drama \u201cSpotlight.\u201d The movie recounts the efforts of The Boston Globe\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Spotlight team spend countless hours investigating and pursuing the story. Their ongoing work involves contacts with various people, taking notes and working as a team. They meet with victims, priests, lawyers and judges. One person they speak to is Phil Saviano, who leads a victims\u2019 group, Survivors Network of those Abuse by Priests (SNAP). They learn that it\u2019s a much bigger issue than anticipated. \u201cYou guys got to understand. This is big. This is not just Boston. It\u2019s the whole country. It\u2019s the whole world. And it goes right up to the Vatican,\u201d Phil Saviano said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Some people are hesitant to talk to the reporters. It\u2019s a huge issue and a very sensitive matter. Information about the abuse has been hidden for years. But the reporters do not give up. Having all been raised as Catholic, the Spotlight team cares about the story. They want to know the truth and make people aware. And they don\u2019t give up until they get some answers. \u201cI know there\u2019s things you cannot tell me. But I also know there\u2019s a story here. And I think it\u2019s an important story,\u201d Mike Rezendes said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The investigation begins to have an impact on the team. Matt Carroll learns that there is a \u201crehabilitation\u201d center for wayward priests on the same block as his family\u2019s home. He\u2019s bothered by the fact that he can\u2019t tell his children and neighbors. Sacha Pfeiffer feels she can\u2019t attend church with her nana anymore. She\u2019s dedicated to bringing out the truth despite her nana\u2019s connection to the church. \u201cWe\u2019re gong to tell this story. We\u2019re going to tell it right,\u201d Pfeiffer said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The pressure builds up. Robby Robinson is faced with pushback from friends who apparently were part of covering up the sexual abuse. Mike Rezendes becomes emotional, urging to get the story out to prevent any more abuse. \u201cThey knew and they let it happen\u2026. It could\u2019ve been you. It could\u2019ve been me. It could\u2019ve been any of us\u2026. We got to show people that nobody can get away with this!\u201d Rezendes said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Everything eventually comes together and they have their full story. Though they faced some turbulence through their endeavor, they persevered. \u201cAll of you have done some very good reporting here. Reporting that I believe is going to have an immediate and considerable impact on our readers. For me, this kind of story is why we do this,\u201d Marty Baron said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cSpotlight\u201d covers a difficult topic, but it\u2019s a must-see movie. The passion and dedication the Spotlight team have is definitely something to watch and admire. If it weren\u2019t for those reporters, the abuse may never have been brought to light. It was a necessary exposure. An exposure to stop the horrid abuse. An exposure to bring justice for everyone involved.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What does it take for reporters to uncover the truth? You can see first-hand in the Academy Award winning fact-based drama \u201cSpotlight.\u201d The movie recounts the efforts of The Boston Globe\u2019s Spotlight team. A team of four journalist who investigated the sexual abuse of children by numerous Roman Catholic priests in Boston. Journalists Robby Robinson, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":213,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7177"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8148,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7177\/revisions\/8148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}