Special 关注的焦点 Screened for BU Audience

The team behind 关注的焦点, including 波士顿环球报 journalists and their acting counterparts: screenwriter Josh Singer (from left), Walter V. Robinson, Ben Bradlee, Jr., Rachel McAdams, John Slattery, director Tom McCarthy, Liev Schreiber, Sacha Pfeiffer (MET’94, SED’12), Marty Baron, Mike Rezendes (CAS’78), Brian d’Arcy James, and Matt Carroll. 照片由杰伊·l·克伦德宁/轮廓由盖蒂图片社

Last week, the real-life reporters portrayed by A-list talent in the new film 关注的焦点 celebrated how well the film stuck to the facts about the 波士顿环球报 关注的焦点 team’s investigation of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston’s decadeslong cover-up of pedophile priests. 这部电影今天在全国上映。

普利策奖获奖记者sacha Pfeiffer(1994年MET， 2012年SED), Mike Rezendes(1978年CAS), Matt Carroll, Walter V. Robinson和Ben Bradlee， jr .在电影在AMC Loews Boston Common向传媒学院的学生和新濠影汇赌场放映后回答了观众的问题。 The event was part of COM’s 实验电影院 series, which brings accomplished filmmakers to campus to screen and discuss their work.

“What you saw in two hours was five months of our work,” said Pfeiffer, who recently returned to the 全球 after a stint at 更大, BU’s National Public Radio station. “很明显，你必须要有一点戏剧性，你需要加快速度，把三个不同的场景放在一起。 有时在高尔夫球场上的谈话，实际上可能是在电话里进行的，但一部两小时的电话电影不会很有趣。 我想我们都对他们如此贴近真实发生的事情印象深刻。”

2002年，重点报道小组发表了一篇爆炸性的报道，声称大主教管区知道牧师约翰·j·吉欧根（John J. Geoghan）几十年来一直在性侵儿童。 然而，据该报报道，教会并没有让吉欧根面对起诉，而是多次将他调往不同的教区，并向家长保证不会允许他再犯。 The 全球’s reporting showed that many in the Boston community—including other priests, parents, teachers, and law enforcement—knew of the abuse, but their devotion to their religion deterred them from exposing the crimes.

关注的焦点 reporters and editors would eventually publish dozens of stories, revealing that in Boston alone, 250 priests had been accused of child abuse, and that Cardinal Bernard Law and even the Pope 被意识到 of the allegations. 记者们发现，类似的性侵指控困扰着世界各地的大主教管区。 For its work, the 全球 won the Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2003.

The film, directed by Tom McCarthy （车站新濠影汇赌场，访客）, is considered an early Oscar front-runner after screenings at the Venice and Toronto 电影 Festivals. It stars Mark Ruffalo as Rezendes, Michael Keaton as Robinson, Rachel McAdams as Pfeiffer, Liev Schreiber as 全球 editor Marty Baron (now at the helm of the 华盛顿邮报》), John Slattery as Bradlee, and Brian d’Arcy James as Carroll. Actor Billy Crudup plays Eric MacLeish (LAW’78), a lawyer who represented abuse victims, and investigative reporter Stephen Kurkjian (CAS’66), who also worked on the project, is played by actor Gene Amoroso. 克里斯汀Lombardi (COM’95), a writer for the now-defunct 波士顿凤凰 who first published a feature-length story about the abuse and wrote more than a dozen articles on the topic beginning in 2001, does not make an appearance; 她在影片的演职员表中得到了感谢。

随着演职员表的滚动，重点报道节目的成员们在剧院前面回答问题。 当被问及为什么花了这么长时间制作这部电影时，罗宾逊说制片人第一次接触他们是在2007年，但他们花了好几年才获得融资。 与许多电影一样，不同的工作室和不同的金融家在不同的时间参与了这个项目。

另一个问题是，从受害者那里听到虐待的故事对记者有何影响。 罗宾逊说这是一次痛苦的经历。 “It was pretty emotionally wrenching for us from the get-go because much of the information came directly from survivors,” said the 34-year 全球 veteran, now an editor at large. “在第一篇报道发表后的几周内，我们接到了来自波士顿总教区....的300多名受害者的电话但它激励着我们更加努力地工作，直到故事的结尾。”

One of many things that the film does not sugarcoat is the failure of 全球 reporters, who had done several short pieces on allegations of abuse, to notice the pattern sooner than they did.

“如果我们早几年写这篇报道，那将是前互联网时代，唯一能读到这篇报道的人将是波士顿周边地区的人，”菲佛说。 “但由于当时是网络的早期阶段，来自世界各地的人都读到了这篇报道，举报电话从四面八方涌来。”

The film was screened, paradoxically, just days after the 全球 announced a 裁员 of 24 reporters and 17 buyouts, the latest in a string of staff cuts at the paper. “I think the producers wanted to make a movie about investigative reporting at a time when many newspapers are cutting back on investigative reporting, to emphasize how important it is,” said Rezendes, who has worked for the 全球 since 1989.

COM新闻学教授克里斯·戴利（Chris Daly）是最后一位向记者发表讲话的听众，他代表了房间里所有人的心声。 他说：“新闻业在过去几年里的表现不太好，而这部电影将以你们所有人所做的令人难以置信的工作为基础，让我们所有人重新振作起来。” “所以我代表在座的所有记者，对你们说声谢谢。”

人群中爆发出热烈的掌声。