In 2002, a team of investigative journalists, known as Spotlight, working for the Boston Globe, broke one of the biggest stories of the early 2000's. After over a year of research, they uncovered the dark secret the Catholic Church had been hiding for years; the pattern of priests who sexually abused children and the systematic coverup of the predators. Through their work, which led to over 800 articles on the story, they were able to reveal over 150 priests who allegedly abused children, victims who had been kept quiet with hush money from the church, and a church that surpassed the law and simply shuffled these sexually abusive priests from parish to parish, never addressing the problem (aside from occasional "sick leaves" where they would send priests to doctors who would "cure" the problem). What's equally as astounding and horrendous was that this was strictly in Boston; it would eventually be discovered, thanks to the Spotlight team, that this was a worldwide epidemic. Six percent of priests molested children, which the Catholic Church would then try to cover up.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning work these journalists did would blow the Catholic Church wide open, breaking their once strong grasp on not only the city of Boston, but the world in general. To this day, the Church is still apologizing and, one could argue, still trying to recover from the scandal. The greater accomplishment, however, was the amount of victims that were able to come forward and get closure, whether that be through support groups, class action suits, civil suits, criminal cases or even just the knowledge that they weren't alone.

Now, the story of these journalists uncovering this story has been made into a movie, and one that is receiving Oscar buzz no less. After seeing "Spotlight" this weekend, I can see why. Not only did the movie cover the story as a whole, but revealed the pain, the grit, the struggles and the general ups and downs of being a journalist. They didn't sugarcoat how hard the job can actually be, and that's why every aspiring journalist should see "Spotlight."

Being a journalist is not glamorous. It's not all professionally done make-up, nice clothes and reading from a prompter. It's not all fancy suits, clouds of cigar smoke and sources who reveal exactly what you want and/or need to know over a glass of brandy. It is none of these stereotypes (if it were, everyone would do it). Journalism is sleepless nights and long hours over a single story. It's getting the door slammed shut in your face nine times out of ten by sources. It's missing holidays and weekends with family because you're always working. It's risking your reputation, your job and, in some cases, your life to get your story out. Why do journalists do it then? The answer is surprisingly simple: we do it for the truth.

Everyone deserves to know the truth, and journalism is the business of telling the truth, so that our readers or viewers can make decisions for themselves with the facts we give. However, there is rarely a case where the truth is cut and dry. We have to dig deeper and fight harder to get the truth out. It isn't an easy job. It's hard, it's draining, it's borderline dangerous in some situations. But the feeling of euphoria and the sense of accomplishment you get when your story makes a difference for your readers or viewers is worth all the struggles.

That's what you see in "Spotlight." You see the tiring, long hours. You see the doors getting shut in their faces. You see the toll it takes on them. You see the struggle of wanting to get the truth out, even if the story isn't done yet. Yet, even greater than that, you see the tenacity and persistence of these journalists to get the truth. You see the drive, the fight, the passion they have. And you see, in one simple shot, the faces of shock that register to the realization that they did it, they made a difference. And that is why every aspiring journalist should see "Spotlight,' because it shows you exactly why this job is worth it.