Mark Ruffalo recently co-starred in the film “Spotlight”, which depicts the work of The Boston Globe’s team of investigative journalists who helped unveil the 2001 child sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. Not only does this film shine a light on this disturbing, and saddening incident, but it also largely emphasizes the typically underrated importance of journalism, and the dedication and passion that journalists have for nothing but informing the public of the truth.

When asked about his thoughts on “Spotlight”, Ruffalo said, “[What is] amazing about the movie is that it’s really a celebration of journalism and the power of it, I think it reawakens us. It reawakens our appreciation of it.” Unfortunately in this day in age, journalism has become under-appreciated, and it often times seems to have lost some of its morality.

Ruffalo also emphasized his appreciation for good journalism. The kind that only speaks the truth. Nowadays we focus on the tabloids, the fictional, and heavily fabricated “journalism” that is built off of lies meant purely to sell more copies and to entertain the public. Therefore, it is incredibly important to support, and be grateful for the journalists who strive for the truth, who live off of next to nothing salaries, who put their work ahead of everything else because there will always be some sort of news that needs to be known. These are the humble voices that change the world.

An important conflict that many investigative journalists face, is revealing people for whom they truly are. The journalist team in “Spotlight”, faced a huge amount of backlash for accusing Catholic priests, and other ranks of such a heinous crime such as sexual abuse. It took a strong will, and faith in justice to shine a light on what was truly going on, and to open peoples’ eyes to see how they were being taken advantage of by their church. After shadowing the real life Mike Recendez (the journalist Ruffalo portrayed), Ruffalo finally came to realize what it truly means to be a good, journalist, “To be a great investigative journalist you have to have a kind of tenacity that doesn’t respect stature or title. It doesn’t keep them from going after the truth; that’s what great journalism is.”