This is my second time watching Spotlight. It's never too much to watch a good movie a few times, especially a story that's always on the topic.
The film tells the story of the Boston Globe's "Spotlight" column investigating the sexual abuse of boys by Catholic bishops and priests. The film is based on a true story. The Boston Globe published more than 600 articles in 2002, and later assembled a book called Betrayal: The Crisis in the Catholic Church.
This film has no star or big-name actors, no luxurious and gorgeous scenes, and has nothing to do with skills and feelings. It is purely a storytelling, and it has firmly captured the hearts of people by showing the media ecology and social appearance.
As a media person, I am quite emotional when I see the various media ecology presented in the film. Although I have a spectrum in my heart, I don't know what choices I will make if these situations are actually encountered in the future. In the society, people need to consider a lot to make a choice, especially at the crossroads of contradictions, how to get out of the predicament, I must be very confused and painful.
The protagonists of the story come to the crossroads of contradictions several times. The first is the contradiction between the speed of publication and the effect of reporting. When Mike finds key information proving that a Catholic bishop sexually abused a boy, he rushes to the news to prevent his peers from discovering clues and pre-empting them. But column editor Robbie is determined not to report individual cases, and to thoroughly expose the entire system. If you think about it from Mike's point of view, his worry and anger are completely understandable. He spent a lot of time and energy investigating this matter, sacrificing his family, running around and interviewing day and night. He has heard too many tragic stories of victims, he hates, he hurts, and he desperately desires to put back the late fairness and justice.
But from Robbie's point of view, exposing a case can only let the outside world see the tip of the iceberg floating on the sea, it is not enough to set off a big wave, mobilize the power of other fields, and it is not enough to overturn the entire eroded system. I personally think that even if the publication speed is a beat slower and others take the lead, as long as the content of the report itself is valuable and meaningful enough to cause changes in the roots of society, I am not afraid of not being able to fight back . And, the good stuff is worth the wait. Fine wine takes time to ferment, food takes time to simmer slowly, and profound writing takes time to create .
The second crossroads that strikes me deeply is the impact and impact of the 9/11 events on the reporting of religious scandals in the United States. The 9/11 incident shocked the whole country, and all media organizations were reporting the news. The public attention and conversation were inseparable from this big news. Because of this, if a religious scandal is reported to the society at this time, it will be almost like a pebble thrown into the sea without causing any waves. But the victims couldn't understand, they waited too long for the truth to be revealed, they were out of anger, they felt they were being tricked, and they even threatened to release the information to another news organization. If I were in the "Focus" column, I would probably have scolded like Mike. There are always unexpected things happening that get in the way of our progress. On the one hand, there is the revelation of the dark society and the innocence of the victims, and on the other hand, the reality of the effect of news dissemination. I believe that in this conflict, the only way to calmly communicate with the interviewees is to gain their understanding and trust. It is not only the best answer to the victims themselves, but also the best response to the hard work of journalists .
The third paradoxical intersection is the most thought-provoking, that is, the judgment of the value of news events. Many of the victims and lawyers in the movie sent some important materials to the Boston Globe, but years ago, these materials were considered waste paper. At the end of the film, Robbie bluntly revealed his past negligence to his colleagues, which made people realize that behind an overlooked and underestimated incident, there is often an important value, and even hidden reality that continues to fester and deteriorate. Why didn't we follow up on the news at the time? Is it too small to be reported? Not enough manpower to make time for in-depth reports? Or is this kind of news uninteresting to the public?
In fact, the media is becoming more and more confused about the value judgments of news leads. The commercialization of media organizations has become increasingly strong, the popularity of the Internet has spawned a number of self-media parties, and newspaper sales have plummeted. In order to stand out in the information wave, the mass media is gradually becoming vulgar and entertaining, and American politics is also consuming entertainment. Fake news is rampant, and mankind has entered a post-truth era . What news is useful? What the public loves to see is useful. In order to cater to the public, news content is becoming more and more boring, and there is less real gold content. Under such circumstances, news organizations tend to be mediocre and vulgar, discarding valuable news, so how can there be no growth and social cancer in the greenhouse?
Whether in the film or in the real world, there will always be people willing to stand up and hold high the torch of justice. In the "Focus" column, in order to find the truth, the group of people worked hard day and night, and lost sleep all night long. "Seriously" is their attitude towards news , take Mike as an example. In order to get lawyer Mickey to speak, he went to besieged for several days; in order to obtain public legal documents, he took out all the change in his body without being able to make copies, and he lived in a small house and lived on Dayton solves the unfinished life; Mike chased after the lawyer and asked about the relevant information of the case when he was having dinner, and was ridiculed such as "Why are you still working", "Do you have a wife"... Their goals are highly specific, and they can't see other temptations around them.
What they want to challenge is religious authority, but it is difficult to imagine the pressure. But even when lawyers told them the odds of victory were extremely low, and advised them to give up, Robbie, the leader, said, "We have to ignore everyone's opinions on this." The tension and conflict and opposition are exaggerated, but only through simple and simple recording methods, they truly show the process of digging for clues and contending with power. Such a simple sentence is more inspiring than the sky-high chicken soup essay. The perseverance and tenacity of the media people really moved me. If there is no such momentum, I am afraid it is really difficult to bear the constant pressure and break through the class barriers. Once you recognize that this is the right thing to do, and do it meaningfully, then do it! Robbie and the others, relying on this kind of unbeatable Xiaoqiang spirit, followed the clues to dig deeper, and finally brought down the powerful church forces.
If it wasn't for myself and my classmates now doing in-depth reports on the pollution of the Lianjiang River, it is estimated that the feeling after watching the movie would not be so strong. The pollution of the Lianjiang River is nothing new, and the media has reported it year after year, but so far, the Lianjiang River area has not gotten rid of the dirty, black and stinky situation, and the people have suffered greatly. My classmates and I never thought that like the "Focus" column, we would use our pen as a weapon to completely solve this stubborn problem. It is impossible for us two college students alone. We had a hard time finding interviewees and finding out the truth. Look at the quaint professionalism of several media people in the film: interviewing parties, collecting information, screening news, reading newspaper clippings a lot, stacking mountains of documents and cost notes, and making phone calls over and over... They face more turbulent than us. The beast is still tireless and persistent, what reason do we have to keep fighting?
Endure loneliness, withstand pressure, be open and tolerant, kindly and sincerely care for the world, and approach the truth with heart. Even an ordinary media person has the responsibility to torture and supervise this society, so that the light can illuminate more dark corners. As said at the end of the film, if there is a god, the priest is not an angel, and the pope is not an archangel, only children are the most beautiful angels in this world. For now, even as humble as an ant, it is an angel that this society needs to protect.
From a professional point of view, the interview writing skills in this film are actually somewhat helpful. For example, when the victim said: "He molested me," Sacha Pfeiffer seriously asked the other party to elaborate on the meaning of the word "obscenity" after hearing it. specific! specific! specific! Writing should not be generalized, but should be specific to the details in the interview, so as to be more convincing and to make the story more full and vivid. Sometimes clues and contradictions can also be found in the details.
The movie is good, but not flawless either. This imperfection, however, hints at the retreat and heaviness of reality. The media people portrayed in the film seem to be less and less these days, creating a sense of unreality. More than a dozen years have passed since the real incident of the sexual abuse of boys by clergymen was revealed, and the current media environment has long since changed. Today's media rely more on "new" technologies and communication channels, but in terms of content production, most media seem to be going backwards, searching for information from everywhere, copying and pasting them and publishing them in a hurry, and there are fewer special articles and in-depth reports. In China, news organizations not only do not have as large and complete data collection libraries as the Globe, but also lack latecomers willing to dig deeper. In the era of information flooding, coupled with the challenges of robot reporters brought about by the development of artificial intelligence, many media people also realize that in-depth reporting may become the blue ocean of the future media industry.
Wonder who will be the next "Focus" group?
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