Spotlight (I) (2015)

Liev Schreiber: Marty Baron

Photos 

Quotes 

• Marty Baron : Sometimes it's easy to forget that we spend most of our time stumbling around the dark. Suddenly, a light gets turned on and there's a fair share of blame to go around. I can't speak to what happened before I arrived, but all of you have done some very good reporting here. Reporting that I believe is going to have an immediate and considerable impact on our readers. For me, this kind of story is why we do this.

• Marty Baron : We need to focus on the institution, not the individual priests. Practice and policy; show me the church manipulated the system so that these guys wouldn't have to face charges, show me they put those same priests back into parishes time and time again. Show me this was systemic, that it came from the top, down.

  Ben Bradlee Jr. : Sounds like we're going after Law.

  Marty Baron : We're going after the system.

• Cardinal Law : If I can be of any help, Marty, don't hesitate to ask. I find that the city flourishes when its great institutions work together.

  Marty Baron : Thank you. Personally I'm of the opinion that for a paper to best perform its function, it really needs to stand alone.

• Peter Canellos : Did everyone read Eileen McNamara's column this weekend?

  Boston Globe Worker : That's the Geoghan case?

  Marty Baron : Yeah, what's the follow on that?

  Ben Bradlee Jr. : It-It's a column, what kind of follow are you thinking?

  Marty Baron : Uh... well apparently this priest molested kids in 6 different parishes over the last 30 years and the attorney for the victims, a Mr...

  Eileen McNamara : Garabedian

  Marty Baron : Thanks Eileen, Mr Garabedian says Cardinal Law found out about it 15 years ago and did nothing.

  Peter Canellos : Yeah, I think that attorney is a bit of a crank, and The Church dismissed the claim.

  Eileen McNamara : He-said she-said.

  Marty Baron : Whether Mr Garabedian is a 'crank' or not, he says he has documents that prove that Cardinal knew.

  Ben Bradlee Jr. : As I understand that those documents are under seal.

  Marty Baron : Okay, but the fact remains a Boston priest abused 80 kids, we have a lawyer who says he can prove Law knew about it and we've written all of... uh... 2 stories in the last 6 months. This strikes me as an essential story to a local paper, I think the very least we have to go through those documents.

  Peter Canellos : How would you like to do that?

  Marty Baron : Oh uh, I don't know what the laws are here, but in Florida we would go to court.

  Ben Bradlee Jr. : You wanna sue the Church?

  Marty Baron : Technically we wouldn't sue the Church, we'd file a motion to lift the seal on the documents.

  Ben Bradlee Jr. : The Church will read that as us suing them. So will everybody else.

  Marty Baron : Good to know.

• Walter 'Robby' Robinson : [as Mike and Matt enter Baron's office]  Anything?

  Mike Rezendes : Law just turned us down.

  Ben Bradlee Jr. : Jesus Christ!

  Mike Rezendes : I just got off the phone with Donna Morrissey. She said, quote, "We don't even want to know what the questions are," end quote.

  Walter 'Robby' Robinson : She really said that?

  Mike Rezendes : Yeah!

  Ben Bradlee Jr. : Well, that ought to do it.

  Marty Baron : [as he writes it in the draft]  "The church had no interest in knowing what The Globe's questions would be." Work it in somewhere before the jump. Anything else?

• Walter 'Robby' Robinson : Look, I'm close to stories on 70 priests. We nail that, along with those letters, this is proof that this is bigger than Law. It's the whole system.

  Marty Baron : You have multiple sources confirming all those priests?

  Walter 'Robby' Robinson : On some. I can get more.

  Ben Bradlee Jr. : Too risky. If we're not buttoned up on every single one of them, the Church will pick us apart.

  Walter 'Robby' Robinson : I think I can get us someone from the other side of the aisle.

  Ben Bradlee Jr. : Somebody inside the Church?

  Walter 'Robby' Robinson : Yeah. A lawyer.

  Marty Baron : Will he go on the record?

  Walter 'Robby' Robinson : Deep background. But he's a solid source.

• Marty Baron : These are substantial. They... they clearly show that Law was negligent.

  Walter 'Robby' Robinson : I need more time. I wanna keep digging.

  Ben Bradlee Jr. : For what? This is the god damn story.

  Walter 'Robby' Robinson : It's not the whole story.

  Ben Bradlee Jr. : Tough shit. We're on a clock now. Even if we don't run Sweeny's ruling, another paper could find these letters and fuck the story.

  Walter 'Robby' Robinson : Agreed. But we run these letters alone, Law apologizes, says it's a one-time thing. He can bury it.

  Marty Baron : How? These clearly show he knew and did nothing about it.