I gritted my teeth and sat through Spotlight for Aleteia this week. As you probably know, that’s the film which details the Boston Globe’s investigation into the sex abuse cover-up in the Archdiocese of Boston. Turns out, it’s actually a well made movie that doesn’t take any unnecessary cheap shots at Catholicism. A character or two does, but the movie itself does not. More than anything else, the film is an apologetics for the necessity of good journalism. That’s nice and all, but we long time comic book geeks don’t really need a feature length movie to help us appreciate competent reporters…
And that, my friends, is why Lois Lane won the Pulitzer Prize for journalism. If you weren’t aware she won a Pulitzer, just ask her and she’ll tell you all about it.
Anyway, whether it’s Lois Lane or the Boston Globe, the Catechism tells us, “By the very nature of their profession, journalists have an obligation to serve the truth and not offend against charity in disseminating information. They should strive to respect, with equal care, the nature of the facts and the limits of critical judgment concerning individuals. They should not stoop to defamation.”
Now, I didn’t read every word of the reams and reams of articles the Globe wrote on the scandal, so I can’t say for certain how well they stuck to their journalistic obligations as described in the Catechism. What I can say is that, in as far they reported the truth, of that we Christians have nothing to fear, for we worship a God who IS truth. And let’s face it, sometimes the truth hurts. Just ask all those folks in Purgatory.
As for Lois, on the other hand, I’m pretty sure she always upholds the proper standards when it comes to reporting. Some of that other stuff in the Catechism about placing one’s self in harm’s way, however, well…
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