3 Ways Journalists Would Report Spotlight Differently Today

The cast of Spotlight poses for a photo. (Image: Source)

As I’m sure most people know, Spotlight was awarded Best Picture at the 2016 Oscars. While this was a huge victory for the cast and crew of the film, it felt like an even bigger victory for journalists everywhere. Journalism matters and this film proves it by telling the story of real, honest investigative journalism.

For those who don’t know, Spotlight is based on true events and follows the Spotlight team of The Boston Globe in 2001. The team was tasked with uncovering the sexual abuse that was taking place within the Catholic Church. Over a decade since the real Spotlight team of The Boston Globe took on this story, I’m sharing how advances in digital journalism and social media would have changed the approach.

*Spoiler Alert: I likely won’t reveal too much that would spoil the movie but I would be remiss if somebody felt I did before everyone had a chance to see it for themselves, so you’ve been warned.*

1. More Immediate Coverage
   If there’s one thing that news organizations have gained through the use of digital media, it’s having the ability to put out stories within seconds. This report was huge, decades of sexual abuse had been transpiring in the Catholic Church and nobody was telling the story. If this were happening in 2016, readers would surely be getting any and all updates almost immediately. We live in such a fast paced world now that readership would demand to know what was happening next. While an investigative team would still have to take their time in verifying facts, I can’t imagine any outlet sitting on the story for so long. Keep in mind, The Boston Globe received the preliminary reports years prior to investigating the story more thoroughly in 2001.
2. More Survivor Accounts Sooner
   When the Spotlight team unveiled how many priests in Boston alone had actually been involved in the sexual abuse of children, everyone was astonished. The team had a few accounts from survivors that were willing to tell their stories but it was clear that there had to be more considering the number of priests that had been accused. When the team finally released the story, they immediately received numerous phone calls from many who had been in the same situation. They received all of these additional accounts after releasing their initial story. I was hesitant on deciding whether or not social media would change this today. The Spotlight team took the time to contact individuals privately and made sure to really keep the investigation under wraps, as to not lose the story to other outlets. Could the Spotlight team have reached out on social media without losing the story to other outlets? I think yes, here’s why. Social media would have given the team a way to reach out to survivors and create a community, similar to what ProPublica does. While the movie discusses a small community that had been created by survivors, an online community would have allowed survivors around the world to interact. I also think that if The Boston Globe had put this out first and created this community, other outlets would back off. The story is intense and requires a lot of investigating, most of which only the Spotlight team had done. If they had come out with this story first, I also believe that survivors would trust them the most with their stories.
3. More Multi-Media
   There is absolutely no question that readership today expects images, at the very least, to go along with every story. While this was published in the newspaper with images, I firmly believe that readers today would demand much, much more. I think there would be a lot more images included in any article that was posted online and I even think that The Boston Globe would include video too. You do have to remember that this is an extremely sensitive topic and many survivors were hesitant to reveal too much about themselves. So this point goes along with my previous point. If The Boston Globe had been able to reach out to more of the survivors, it would be more likely that many of them would have been willing to do full profiles.

There is no doubt that the Spotlight team did a tremendous job reporting this story, these are just a few ways I think today’s digital world would have changed things. If you’re interested in seeing what good journalism looks like, you can watch the trailer below and click here to find tickets in a theater near you.