The Boston Globe Spotlight Investigation: Sexual Abuse by Priests in the Catholic Church, 2002

Members of the Spotlight Team: Walter V. Robinson, Editor. Michael Rezendes, Sacha Pfeiffer, and Matt Carroll. Other investigative reporters: Stephen Kurkjian, Kevin Cullen, and Thomas Farragher. Religion reporter: Michael Paulson. The Boston Globe Spotlight Investigation: Abuse in the Catholic Church. The Boston Globe, 6 January 2002-14 December 2002. The Boston Globe won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service “for its courageous, comprehensive coverage of sexual abuse by priests, an effort that pierced secrecy, stirred local, national and international reaction and produced changes in the Roman Catholic Church.” Between January 2002 and March 2003, The Boston Globe published more than 900 news stories about the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church.

Winner of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize in Public Service.

Winner of the 2002 George Polk Award for National Reporting
for exposing the “widespread sexual abuse by priests as well as the questionable way in which Church officials handled the matter.”

Winner of the 2002 Worth Bingham Prize for Investigative Journalism.

Winner of the 2003 Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting.

Update: The film ‘Spotlight’ won the Oscar for best picture on 28 February 2016. A. O. Scott’s review in The New York Times was published on 5 November 2015: Review: In ‘Spotlight,’ The Boston Globe Digs Up the Catholic Church’s Dirt.

[Read more…]