2016 Best Picture "Spotlight" shines a light on the impact of investigative journalism and a real news team at the Boston Globe. Join us for an evening celebrating IowaWatch, a statewide non-profit news organization, as we talk live via Skype with a member of the Spotlight team before we watch the film.  

Doors open at 6:30. Guests can enjoy a cash bar and complimentary desserts. The program will begin at 7 p.m. 

Matt Carroll, who describes himself as a data geek, was one of the four people on the Boston Globe's original Spotlight team that won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for exposing clergy sex abuse in the Catholic Church. In the movie “Spotlight”, Carroll is played by Brian d'Arcy James. Although Carroll left the Boston Globe in 2014, he is probing the future of journalism at the MIT Media Lab. He writes the popular blog "3 for the week" that highlights a trio of stories, videos and data visualizations about the news media. Carroll also leads Hacks/Hackers Boston, a 1,300-person meet-up "which educates journalists about digital and technologists about media," according to MIT.  

IowaWatch, also known as the Iowa Center For Public Affairs Journalism, is a non-profit news organization.  Its mission is to maintain an independent, non-partisan journalistic program dedicated to producing and encouraging explanatory and investigative journalism in Iowa, engaging in collaborative reporting efforts with Iowa news organizations and educating journalism students.

Proceeds from the event will benefit IowaWatch. To learn more about the organization and how you can support investigative journalism in Iowa, visit http://www.iowawatch.org.

The $15 ticket price includes $5 for the movie and $10 for the discussion, desserts and support for IowaWatch. Please reserve your seats now. Additional tickets may be available at the door. 

This event is sponsored by Shuttleworth & Ingersoll, P.L.C., of Cedar Rapids.