Many journalists who recently investigated sexual misconduct within the Roman Catholic Church faced a major hurdle: a lack of data about allegations of abuse by priests. Some news organizations found the answer to this problem by creating their own databases. The stories that resulted show how useful these homegrown databases can be.
In January 2002, The Boston Globe began publishing "Crisis in the Catholic Church," a series that offered a picture of a Catholic archdiocese riddled with scandal. More than 800 stories later, The Globe's series has garnered many awards including a Pulitzer Prize for public service and the IRE Medal. Conducting an intense investigation into the church's private realm, the newspaper's Spotlight Team found success through the use of shoe-leather reporting, documents and a database that greatly supported the re-