The announcement came less than two years after the Catholic site started operation. The Globe cited financial reasons for the decision.

In a note to readers, Crux editor Teresa Hanafin said the Globe decided to focus its efforts "on other initiatives within the company."

She said Vatican analyst and associate Crux editor John L. Allen Jr. will continue the site with Vatican correspondent Inés San Martín.

"I can't tell you how proud we all are of what we have accomplished in the past 19 months. We vowed to make Crux a place where all voices could be heard, and we stuck to that pledge," Hanafin wrote.

She said the quality of the site "was reflected in the strong traffic and journalism awards we received."

"But the economics of the journalism business are difficult today," she added.

Globe editor Brian McGrory, in a letter to media critic Dan Kennedy, described the decision as "difficult ... because we're beyond proud of the journalism and the journalists who have produced it."

"The problem is the business. We simply haven't been able to develop the financial model of big-ticket, Catholic-based advertisers that was envisioned when we launched Crux back in September 2014," he added.

When it was launched, Crux aspired to cover "all things Catholic," with content to appeal to active Catholics, "casual" Catholics who may not be regular Mass attendees and general readers interested in Pope Francis, religion and spirituality.

Sources

The Boston Globe
NiemanLab
Catholic News Agency
National Catholic Register
Crux
Image: Columbia Journalism Review

The first trailer for the drama "Spotlight", directed and co-written by Tom McCarthy, has been released.

The movie, distributed by Open Road Films, tells the true story behind the Boston Globe's investigation into child abuse in the Catholic Church.

The group of journalists won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2003 after uncovering the Boston archdiocese's widespread cover-up of sexual abuse.

"West Wing" scribe Josh Singer co-wrote the film, which has already generated plenty of awards buzz.

The Globe's reporting eventually led to the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law, who had hidden years of abuse by other priests, and yielded other revelations of molestation and cover-ups around the world.

Michael Keaton stars alongside Rachel McAdams, John Slattery, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber and Stanley Tucci.

Billy Crudup plays a church representative trying to shut the investigation down.

"We've got two stories here," says Keaton as Walter "Robby" Robinson, the editor of the Globe's Spotlight investigations team.

"A story about degenerate clergy and a story about a bunch of lawyers turning child abuse into a cottage industry. Which story do you want us to write? Because we're writing one of them."

"Spotlight" will premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September, and will also screen at the Toronto Film Festival.

It will be released in cinemas in the US in November.

Sources

• Variety
• The Guardian
• Image: The Guardian