I watched this movie over the summer, but the second time around I paid more attention to the details rather than merely the plot. For example, the first time I watched it I thought Marty Baron was the bad corporate guy coming in and stomping all over everyone’s work. But this time I noticed it was actually him that suggested taking on the cases involving the church covering up molestation charges against priests. Boston is a very Catholic place, and it took an outsider to bring such an issue to light. The data they collected were the files showing what years and for how long a priest was at a church in addition to his designation which was usually written off as “sick leave” and seemed to be an indicator that there was something else going on. They proceeded to check out the treatment centers where the priests were sent to see what exactly they were being treated for. They also tried going to courthouses to find the charges against priests but could only find the settlements that were given to the victims. When they couldn’t find all the documents they needed, they’d scour libraries and create spreadsheets themselves to keep track of how many priests were actually involving the scandal. At first 13 seemed like a lot, but I think by the end it was around 87 in Boston alone. The spotlight team chose to focus on the system rather than individual priests that way their work would be more effective. Once they finally told the story, after putting it off for various reasons and tension arising as a result, they decided to publish letters, stories of victims, and the information about priests that they had uncovered. In 2002 they put out around 600 stories. Throughout the process, the editors seemed to be dealing with the pushback that the reporters were getting for going so in-depth with such a controversial issue and were in charge of choosing when the story would be published. Editors seemed to act as lawyers of some sort, meeting with the higher ups one-on-one, attending functions that on the surface seemed to forge an alliance with the church, and above all kept the reporter’s findings as confidential as possible, even when some felt conflicted the more information they found.