Films Do Change The World

Here’s hope for a better world in 2013.  It will arrive in many ways and one of them is from film.  We all love success stories, and this is one of a sideways kind.  Many of you probably remember the heartbreaking film I posted here “In Jennifer’s Room”.  Although it reported a most heartbreaking tale, the world is now better for it.  Okay, not just because of the film, but because of a concentrated effort of which the film was just part, but still, people are talking…

I recently received this note from Robert Rosenthal of Center For Investigative Reporting:

As a result of CIR’s reporting, especially the explosive story we

reported last month (http://californiawatch.org/node/18695), we have

just learned that the Sonoma Developmental Center where that horrific

case occurred, has just lost its primary license to operate.

We have also just reported that the OPS, the department’s internal

police force that routinely failed to protect patients from abuse, has

been placed under command of the California Highway Patrol.

California Watch reported these developments today:

http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/state-threatens-shut-down-disability-center-amid-patient-abuse-18747.

Both of these stunning outcomes are testament to CIR’s power to tell

this story in innovative ways and get it the attention it deserves –

in print publications across the state, a riveting online video that

has spanned the internet, on KQED radio, through tweets, data

graphics, and directly to state officials who made yesterday’s

decision.

With the impact and results it had (incouding Jerry Brown signing two

pieces of related legislation) this is a key example of the kind of

“journalism of action” we are practicing and honing. This is a world

where there is a connection between the articulating of a problem

through deep investigative reporting and the resolution of that

problem.

CIR was keeping the pressure on, planning a town hall meeting in

Sonoma next month to ensure that issues at the Sonoma Developmental

Center remained in the public eye. Yesterday’s announcement does not

change our concern for the welfare of patients in Sonoma or at

California’s other four developmental care facilities who have faced

similar abuses and lack of oversight. We are re-evaluating the best

on-the-ground strategy in Sonoma and in other communities to engage

officials and affected families.

I will continue to keep you updated on the progress of this story. We

hope you are as proud as we are and that, together, we did change the

world for the better for these most vulnerable among us.

Great kudos go to reporter Ryan Gabrielson and all our dedicated staff at CIR.