Spotlight: 50 years of groundbreaking investigative journalism

GLOBE MAGAZINE

A look back at 15 Spotlight Team projects that changed Boston and beyond. Plus, Globe journalists share the stories behind the stories.

BRIAN MCGRORY

Why the Spotlight Team matters

Investigative journalism helps us achieve one of our most important goals: Making our region a better, fairer, and safer place to live.

Spotlight at 50: Why good journalism matters

A conversation between Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Walter V. Robinson and Tom McCarthy, Academy Award-winning director of “Spotlight.” (Video produced by Caitlin Healy/Globe Staff)

From left: Globe staffers react to learning they won a Pulitzer Prize in 1972; a protester outside the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston, in 2002; a BU student was killed in a house fire in 2013; the crowd at Fenway during a Red Sox-Yankees game in 2017; and Aaron Hernandez in his Patriots playing days.

Timeline

Five decades in the Spotlight: A selected timeline of groundbreaking investigations

Gerard M. O'Neill, Thomas Winship, Ann Desantis, Stephen A. Kurkjian, and Timothy Leland celebrate after receiving word that the Spotlight Team won the 1972 Pulitzer for exposing corruption in Somerville.

Oral History

‘I look over — it was Whitey Bulger’: Spotlight journalists reveal the stories behind the stories

Free virtual event | Friday, September 24, 4 p.m.

From Watergate to Spotlight: How investigative journalism has changed and why it’s more important than ever

As part of our inaugural Globe Summit, the Spotlight Team is marking its 50th anniversary with a live panel discussion.

See all the latest Spotlight reports

Explore more from the Globe Investigations team

15 Spotlight Team investigations that made a difference

A look back at some of the journalism projects that changed Boston and beyond.

1971

A half-century ago, Somerville politics was a mess of no-bid construction contracts and cronyism

Mayor Joseph Curtatone recalls a series, long before his time in office, that was a “civic wake-up call” for higher ethical standards.

1978

In the 1970s, there was a spike in cancer at a New Hampshire shipyard. Why?

Spotlight examined some 100,000 death records and interviewed 600 next of kin to probe radiation danger at a naval facility.

1979

The 1970s MBTA: missing cash, threats, and a ‘haven for goldbrickers’

“What’s wrong with the T?” the Spotlight series asked. What isn’t wrong with it turned out to be more to the point.

1985

Police eager to boost their pay joined this program in droves. But there was a problem

Acting on a tip, Spotlight reporters discovered that a degree program costing taxpayers $12 million a year had shockingly low standards.

Whitey Bulger and Catherine Greig walk together in 1988.

1988 + 1998

How Spotlight revealed the secret deal between Whitey Bulger and the FBI

Two Spotlight projects, a decade apart, showed how the notorious gangster used his status as a secret FBI informant to murderous ends.

1990

When Spotlight used hidden cameras to catch state judges skipping out on work

“The unspoken motto of the court system might well be: Get it done in the morning or put it off to another day,” read the first entry in the series.

1996

Healthy workers were costing taxpayers $33 million in disability pensions

Doctors had cleared them to return to work, yet they kept collecting checks, golfing, and even working other jobs.

2002

‘They knew and they let it happen’: Uncovering child abuse in the Catholic Church

The Spotlight Team revealed the church’s secret protection of pedophile priests in a series with global repercussions.

A clipping of the Boston Globe front page featuring the Spotlight Team's investigation of how the Massachusetts court system treated people with credit card debt. Headline says, "No mercy for consumers."

2006

Debt collectors shook down the working poor — and state courts let it happen

People had $500 limits on their credit cards. Yet they were suddenly facing thousands of dollars in bills.

John J. "Jack" O'Brien (left) was suspended as probation department commissioner after the Spotlight report. Representative Thomas Petrolati (right) resigned from a leadership position.

2010

Cracking open a patronage hiring scheme in the Probation Department

A 2010 Spotlight investigation shows a Massachusetts department where who you knew seemed to matter most.

Boston University senior Binland Lee (right) died in a 2013 fire in an Allston building (left) that was riddled with code violations.

2014

A tragic fire and the dangers of student apartments in America’s college town

With Boston-area colleges housing less than half of full-time undergraduates, too many packed into unsafe living conditions.

Dr. Dennis Burke raised the alarm about one surgeon overseeing operations in multiple rooms simultaneously.

2015

A world-class hospital. A whistle-blower. A hard look at double-booked surgeries.

Should surgeons operate on two patients at once without telling them?

In 2009, Lee F. Chiero was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the 2007 killing of his mother.

2016

Investigating how the Massachusetts mental-health system was failing those who needed it most

In a state that prided itself on its health care, why did so many lives of people with severe mental illness end in tragedy?

2017

Asking hard questions about racism in Boston

Spotlight brought data — including surveys of public event attendance, and on workplace and housing discrimination — to interrogating Boston’s ugly reputation.

Aaron Hernandez speaks to the media during his Patriots playing days.

2018

Did brain damage from football contribute to the violent life of Aaron Hernandez?

In a podcast and print series, the Spotlight Team tells the story of the former Patriots star — and the brutal business of football.