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| Scene from Spotlight |
What is the job of the journalist? In 2015, this is a loaded question largely thanks to the digital era. With the advent of Twitter and Buzzfeed, news has become more about the immediacy than the truth - choosing to react viscerally to the moment than to understand what happened. As a result, the value of the journalist feels different because of how easily they're washed out by uneducated competitors. In director Thomas McCarthy's Spotlight, the story looks shockingly different for the turn-of-the-millennium look at The Boston Globe's Spotlight team as they tackle a controversial problem with the Catholic Church. Beyond its taboo subject, the film is a love letter to the process and how, only back in 2001, the value of information was different (arguably more important) than it is today. Even if Spotlight can be seen as just another procedural drama, it's one that reflects a changing tide of relevancy to the newspaper industry and the public's admiration for investigative journalism as a means of change.
