We see the results of reporters’ work almost every day but we often don’t understand how they go about their jobs. “Spotlight” depicts the true story of how a team of Boston Globe reporters uncovered wrongdoing in the Catholic Church that was far more extensive than anyone realized at the time. They won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, journalism’s highest honor. READ THIS FIRST then watch Spotlight, the Oscar-winning “best picture” of 2015. The movie looks at the investigative reporting done by the Spotlight team in 2002-2003. It’s widely available as streaming, rental or check out from the SCC library. Note how the reporters work. Although this is a Hollywood movie, it closely follows true events and gives a fairly accurate depiction of how newspaper journalists actually operate. (If you go on the Pulitzer Prize site and view the prize winners for 2003, you will see the actual articles written by the Boston Globe reporters portrayed in the movie.) (Links to an external site.) Before you watch, refer to the SPJ Code of Ethics (Links to an external site.) for journalists. For this discussion, just pick one of the following topics to discuss. If someone in your group has chosen one of these, pick another (but you can offer your ideas on any topic in a response to other posts). I.e., choose one topic per person (first come, first served), for this discussion, from these: What specific ethical principles you see the journalists follow and what principles you see them break, if any. What do you see as the biggest challenge for the reporters and editors trying to investigate this particular story? How did they handle it? The actual reporting team won the Pulitzer Prize for public service. Do you think their stories were an important public service to their community? We assume these reporters are good writers. What other specific skills and abilities do you see the reporters and editors using to get the stories? What steps or actions did they take to make sure they had the facts right? (Use examples) What’s the most surprising or unexpected thing you learned about journalistic reporting in this film? The reporters and editors faced pressure, both privately and professionally, about reporting the story and had to make some hard choices. Describe some of the pressures they faced. Did this movie change your understanding of how newspaper journalists work? How is what these reporters do different than what cable news commentators or opinion writers do? The actors and director of this movie thought it was an important film to make, and they wanted to get it right. They spent a lot of time with the actual newspaper reporters at the Boston Globe, they credited them at the end of the movie and even brought them on stage when they won the Oscar. What are your thoughts about this? Make sure to describe specific scenes to back up your ideas.