Spotlight Producer Blye Faust Invited to Join The Center for Investigative Reporting

From the press release: Blye Faust, producer of the Oscar-nominated film “Spotlight,” has joined the board of directors of The Center for Investigative Reporting.

CIR Executive Board Chairman Phil Bronstein announced Faust’s appointment as “Spotlight” had just won best picture at the 2016 Critics’ Choice Movie Awards and been nominated for six Academy Awards, including best picture.

Founded in 1977, CIR is the nation’s first independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization dedicated to public service journalism. CIR empowers the public through groundbreaking investigative storytelling that sparks action, improves and saves lives, and protects our democracy. CIR reports expose injustices and failures of accountability and lead to new legislation, policy reforms, criminal investigations, grassroots organizing, changes in the public conversation and more. In a media world where speed, competition and the chase for digital clicks define success, CIR prioritizes the public’s need to know and has been on the cutting edge of the shift in where and how news is delivered.

Faust’s appointment coincides with the launch of “Reveal,” from CIR and PRX (Public Radio Exchange), the nation’s first weekly public radio show and podcast to highlight the value and impact of journalism in the public interest. It also comes as CIR is creating its new documentary unit, Reveal Films, to build on its successful history of producing award-winning documentary films, new digital platforms and a growing public appetite for deeply told true stories.

Faust is co-founder of the film and television production company Rocklin/Faust. With business partner Nicole Rocklin, she is a producer of “Spotlight” (directed by Tom McCarthy and starring Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Stanley Tucci, Liev Schreiber and John Slattery). The film tells the story of The Boston Globe Spotlight Team’s investigation into the Catholic Church’s cover-up of widespread child sexual abuse. Faust’s seven-year forceful push to get the film made exemplifies her deep commitment to the central role of journalism in uncovering wrongdoing and upholding the central role of a free and aggressive press in our democracy.

“Fearless investigative reporting exposes injustices, gives voice to the vulnerable and has the power to change the world, something illustrated in ‘Spotlight’ and in the high impact work of CIR,” Faust says. “Joining CIR’s board represents my own commitment to pursuing the truth and ensuring that journalism in the public interest continues to thrive.”

“Blye and CIR are a perfect match,” Bronstein said. “With ‘Spotlight,’ Blye and her colleagues brilliantly underscored the hard work and profound consequences of investigative reporting, which is threatened with extinction in a media environment consumed with profit margins and adrenalized news. We could not be more excited that Blye’s powerful and passionate belief in the kind of journalism CIR does now has a home among an impressive and diverse board, which shares her passion and has been committed over time to a practice that acts as our democracy’s immune system.”

Rocklin/Faust’s upcoming projects include an untitled HBO project, among others. Prior to forming Rocklin/Faust, Faust practiced as an attorney in the Century City office of O’Melveny & Myers LLP and Santa Monica-based Alschuler Grossman Stein & Kahan LLP.  She received her J.D. from UCLA and graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a bachelor’s degree in English from Santa Clara University. In addition to her entertainment work, she currently serves on the board of Sunny Hills Services, a private nonprofit serving vulnerable youth in Marin, Alameda and Sonoma counties.

More about The Center For Investigative Reporting

The Center for Investigative Reporting is the recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, winner of 2013 and 2015 Emmy Awards and a 2014 George Foster Peabody Award, and a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2012 (for local reporting) and 2013 (for public service).

Significant support for CIR is provided by a wide range of foundations and individual donors, among them The Reva & David Logan Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Open Society Foundations and The California Endowment.