The clergy sexual abuse scoop film "Spotlight"

The clergy sexual abuse scoop film "Spotlight." will be featured in "TBS News Special" in Japan!

"Spotlight" refers to the Boston Globe's investigative reporting team that uncovered numerous cases of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in 2002. In 2002, managing editor Barron was editor-in-chief of the Boston Globe. In Boston, where most people are Catholic, the Church is an authority.

The original story is not a novel but a true story. The Boston Globe, which won the Pulitzer Prize for public interest reporting in 2003, contains a report on the sexual abuse of children by a priest, the Church's cover-up of the incident, and the circumstances leading up to its publication. This is the original work.

"Spotlight: The Scoop of the Century" is a true story about a journalist investigating clerical sex abuse and the systematic cover-up.

A)
It tells the horrific story of child sexual abuse that the Catholic Church hid for 30 years and the story of the local American newspaper, "The Boston Globe," which tenaciously uncovered the story.

The film was released in 2015 and is a famous film that won best picture and best original screenplay at the Oscars that year.

I thought it was an embarrassing piece of American history. Still, on 3 October 2020, five years after the film's release, it was suddenly featured on the Japanese news programme "TBS News Special".

There was a big reason for this.
Exactly what the Boston Globe once reported happened here in Japan.

B)
The Boston Globe is a local newspaper in Boston, USA.

What film was based on the report that won the Pulitzer Prize for the same newspaper in 2003, and what movie did TBS show this time?

"Spotlight" was the name of the Globe's feature section, run by a small team of reporters.

C)
The new editor-in-chief approached the team about a case of child sexual abuse by a priest.

He felt the local Catholic Church was behind the scenes, trying to cover up the situation.

For the faithful, the voice of the clergy was the voice of God!
But the Catholic Church is a sanctuary.

This is because Americans have a history of being deeply involved in their local Church from an early age and cultivating their religiosity through that experience.

The voice of the clergy is also the voice of God.
Unwanted sexual temptation by a priest.

Because of this faith's long and deep history, no one would suspect a problem with the priest or the Church.

Even if someone had the slightest suspicion, it was never made public.

D)
"I knew my neighbours, but I couldn't tell them..."

Now, the reporters dare to conduct interviews, but the more they do, the more they are surprised at how deep the roots go.

The first incident involved only one priest, but more and more priests became suspicious.

What is even more suspicious is that the priest who became suspicious had his parish changed at some point, and he became suspicious.

We interview people believed to be victims, but most of the people we interview live in the same area.

When I'm surrounded by colleagues and people from the same school in the district, they all say,

"I knew, but I couldn't say it."

E)
The lawyer who was sued was afraid of pressure from the Church.
On the other hand, some victims dared to come forward and say they had been sexually abused.

Garabedian (Stanley Tucci) appears as the lawyer who was sued.

Mike, a reporter, finally contacts the lawyer, who does not want to be interviewed and negotiates with him to make the facts of the sexual abuse public.

But it was the influence of the Catholic Church that even the lawyers feared.

Lawyers rebel against reporters with microphones.

If we make this public, who will take responsibility for the consequences?" he asked.

F)
Mike, persistent in his approach, immediately asked: "Who will take responsibility if you don't publish it?

That was the social justice of journalists.

Spotlight members gather circumstantial evidence and seek comments from church leaders.

There was one Church that was wholly self-protective and would not comment.

But the big scoop from the Boston Globe is a highlight.

And I was even more nervous when I saw the credits that ran at the end of the main story.

As a result of this big scoop, the names of many of the cities where the raids took place were announced.

G)
The film Spotlight was released in 2015, but the actual scoop that was the film's subject is even older, dating back to 2002.

Since then, several facts have come to light in the United States and Europe, where it originated.

As for the situation in Japan, in 2019, an investigation by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan admitted that there had been 21 cases of sexual abuse since 2002.

Whether this number is large or small, and whether the response after the investigation is sufficient.

In the "News Feature", although some people in Japan are belatedly coming forward, the men and women whose real names appeared in the programme argue that there must be many more similar victims.

This is the scene from the Best Picture Academy Award Winning Movie Spotlight where Mike disclosed everything about Church to his colleagues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VR8Z64v7-mU

Spotlight Ending

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAG22IEMek0

The clergy sexual abuse scoop film "Spotlight." will be featured in "TBS News Special" in Japan!

https://seikajitu.com/spotlight-scoop

BBC producer feels "huge discomfort" over Johnny & Associates' "company name change" and "victim relief measures"

https://dot.asahi.com/articles/-/202248?page=1

Q1) Why do you think such a tragedy occurs in a closed world like the Catholic Church or the entertainment industry?

I think monks and Johnny are kind people.
Usually, they are someone to be respected.
Believers in weak positions and young children want to believe in great adults.
They don't want to recognize sexual abuse as a crime.

In other words, crimes are rarely reported.
Even if they made an announcement, no one might believe it.
Monks and company presidents have significant influence, and no one wants to hear about them.

However, even though we don't want to see it, we have no choice but to overcome it and move on the right path for the sake of the victims.