At NESNEs, press watchdog role praised

At NESNE awards, speaker
lauds watchdog role of press

By Alastair Pike
Bulletin Correspondent

Scott Allen, assistant managing editor for projects at The Boston Globe, said Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the Pulitzer Prize winners known for their Watergate reporting, spawned a whole generation of journalists just like him who “wanted to meet their own Deep Throat in a parking garage and expose secret truths to the world.”

Investigative reporting is one of the most expensive, but also one of the most important, and certainly one of the most celebrated parts of journalism, Allen said.

Allen spoke at the New England Society of News Editors awards ceremony, held at the Globe in downtown Boston April 19.

“It’s great to be here on the front lines of defending the First Amendment,” Allen said. “Journalism has had some tough years, and it is more important than ever to celebrate our successes and keep our heads up and trying things until something works.”

Allen said the reason investigative reporting is crucial, especially in New England, is that people can’t count on political parties or interest groups to hold each other accountable.

“They’re too tribal,” Allen said. “They’re too invested in the status quo.

“In states like Massachusetts, where Democrats heavily dominate, the opposition party is just too weak to act as a check on the other. If we the press don’t do the work to hold the powerful accountable, it’s not going to get done, period,” he said.

Allen named a few outlets doing great investigative work, including the Sun Journal of Lewiston, Maine — whose executive editor, Judith Meyer, won a leadership award at the ceremony, in part for keeping a check on Maine’s government and striving to uphold the public’s right to know. He also named the Vermont Digger of Montpelier, New York City-based ProPublica, and Boston-based WBUR-FM.

Allen then discussed work at the Globe, where he oversees the Spotlight Team and other investigative and long-form reports. He said the Oscar-winning movie “Spotlight” about the Globe’s Pulitzer-winning investigation in 2001-2002 of sexual abuse of children by clergy in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston was brilliant, realistic and had a positive impact.

“The movie really caught the spirit of what investigative reporters do, including things that are tedious, like going through dusty old church logs to find the names of abusive priests, and things that are inspiring, like listening to victims patiently as they tell their story,” Allen said. “And it reminded us that on our best days, journalists really are a force for good in the world … The path to justice really does begin with a simple spreadsheet.”

More recently, the Globe’s Spotlight Team has tripled in members from three to nine, with one reporter’s primary job collecting data.

The team did a seven-part series on racism in Boston published in December. Last week, the series, titled “Boston. Racism. Image. Reality,” was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting.

“It really represents a new kind of investigation. We applied analytical tools to get beyond people’s conflicting opinions,” Allen said. “We just wanted to get down to: What are the real facts; can we make a contribution that’s not just a feeling or opinion. And the answer is yes.”

With statistics, the Globe found that in Boston, the average net worth of African-Americans and whites are $8 and $247,500 respectively. The team also researched census tracts for college degrees and median household income and found that there were four middle- to upper-class black enclaves in Boston; there were 150 in New York City and 110 in Atlanta.

“We also looked most depressingly at the Seaport, which is like the hottest new neighborhood in Boston. It was built from nothing, it was just car lots and dive bars like 20 years ago, and now it’s the hottest neighborhood in Boston in terms of real estate value,” Allen said. “When we looked at who’s there, it has now become like the whitest neighborhood in the city. In 660 mortgages, we found three that have been signed by African-American families.”

Allen explained, through the series, the value of thorough analysis and investigative reporting that prompts engagement and discussion.

“By using this straight numerical analysis, using spreadsheets, databases, lots of numbers, we were actually able to make a very meaningful contribution,” Allen said.

“We do have a lot to be proud of, not just in investigative reporting, but in our very perseverance as journalists,” Allen said. “And celebrating the best of New England journalism, as you guys are doing this evening, is a terrific way to show our pride in what we do every day.”