(CNN) – After 156 women came forward to say they were abused by Larry Nassar, Michigan Assistant Attorney General Angela Povilaitis singled out for praise the organization that started the reckoning with the disgraced doctor’s two decades of sexual abuse.
Not prosecutors. Not police. Definitely not USA Gymnastics or Michigan State University.
No, she praised The Indianapolis Star.
“We as a society need investigative journalists more than ever,” Povilaitis said in court. “What finally started this reckoning and ended this decades-long cycle of abuse was investigative reporting.”
That praise was delivered with good reason. The story of Nassar’s downfall started in August, 2016, with the Indianapolis Star and some good, old-fashioned local investigative reporting on Indianapolis-based USA Gymnastics. The Star’s five-month investigation led to a major expose and then to a pivotal email from Rachael Denhollander, one of Nassar’s victims.
“Without that first Indianapolis Star story in August of 2016, without the story where Rachael came forward publicly shortly thereafter, he would still be practicing medicine, treating athletes and abusing kids,” Povilaitis said.
Nassar, the longtime team doctor for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State, was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison on Wednesday after an extraordinary seven days of powerful victim impact statements.
But he was far from the main target of the Indy Star’s initial reporting. In a time of significant media staff turnover, particularly in local journalism, the Star was able to break this story thanks to time, resources and the trust of their readers.
“At the time we started, Nassar wasnt even on our radar,” Tim Evans, one of the reporters, told CNN. “It just came out of the blue after we published our first story about (USA Gymnastics) failing to address concerns about coaches, and took us off on a tangent, down a rabbit hole, for 16 months.”
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How the @indystar and Rachael Denhollander took down Larry Nassar https://t.co/JG1G1wju6R pic.twitter.com/SZxEPNeQnC
— CNN (@CNN) January 25, 2018
Nice to read a story where for once the press was doing their job. Great news and justice was done.
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