Media history is interactive in Newseum
WASHINGTON – Newspaper revenue is sliding and television networks are desperately wooing a dwindling audience. For industry veterans, the outlook has never been so bleak.
What better time to throw a huge party?
A $450 million museum paying tribute to the news and those who report and ready it for viewers, listeners and readers opened Friday to great fanfare in a prime location on Pennsylvania Avenue – midway between the White House and Capitol, not far from the National Mall.
The Newseum is a flashy addition to this city’s collection of museums. The seven-story palace is highly interactive and celebrates the glory days of a business that is plagued by shrinking audiences and rising costs.
In a city where free entry to museums is still the norm, adults must pay $20 for admission to the Newseum. But its officials are gambling that tourists will spend money for what they term a “learning and fun” experience.
Charles L. Overby, the Newseum’s chief executive, said the International Spy Museum, another Washington tourist destination that charges a similar ticket price, had 750,000 visitors last year.
“We could have built an average museum with glass cases where people come in and look at items or we could build a high-tech museum that gives people something to do,” he said. “People are willing to pay money, if you have a good experience.”
One exhibit explores the future of the digital age, highlighting the role of bloggers and citizen journalists. But much of the content in the 14 major exhibition galleries and 15 theaters is focused on how the mainstream media covered the 20th century’s biggest stories.
One gallery displays an array of heart-wrenching photographs that won Pulitzer Prizes.
A James Madison impersonator talks with students at an exhibit on the First Amendment.
A mangled transmission tower that was once atop the World Trade Center is part of an exhibit on how reporters covered the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
An ethics center allows budding journalists to ponder real-life dilemmas faced by professionals.
Using the front pages of newspapers to track memorable stories makes the museum as much about the media’s role in history as anything else.
“Journalism really marks time,” said Abby Flottemesch, a Washington resident. “It evokes such emotion. You feel a little bit of what people were going through at the time.”
Some items remind visitors how dangerous journalism can be – including the remnants of a blood-stained war reporter’s notebook left after a grenade exploded. The “Journalists Memorial” contains the name of 1,843 professionals who have died while reporting the news since 1837.
A wall of photos from the 2008 presidential campaign are on display. Video displays chronicle television coverage of the 2000 presidential election, the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the shooting in 2007 at Virginia Tech.
The museum’s location and size – including a 74-foot-tall inscription of the First Amendment on marble above the main entrance – serve as reminders of the fundamental role the Fourth Estate has played in the shaping of America and the guarantee of a free press in the U.S. Constitution. The heavy reliance on glass is designed to represent the media commitment to openness and transparency.
Overby said he wants the museum to “stand as a beacon for freedom for at least 100 years.”
The 250,000-square-foot edifice – part of a project that includes condominiums, a Wolfgang Puck-managed restaurant and a 535-seat theater – has been in the works for nearly eight years. A much smaller Newseum, in nearby Arlington, Va., closed in 2002. The new museum was paid for by private gifts from a variety of media companies, foundations and the nonprofit Freedom Forum.