Six Floor of All that is News Hope Frank

WASHINGTON D.C.—The Newseum opened just under a year ago, on April 11, 2008, and attracts journalists, reporters, publishers, newshounds, and the general public alike. The exterior boasts a large replica of the entire First Amendment as it appears in the Constitution, beckoning passer-bys to enter and promising to please. I started my tour with the film, “What is News?” that takes various headlines and breaking-news stories from history and puts them together in a cohesive definition of news. According to the film, news is love; it is war; it is births; it is deaths; it is celebration; news is anything happening around the world that impacts a number of people. The “G-Men and Journalists” exhibit presents news articles along with actual artifacts from the major crime events that have appeared in American media over the years. As I walked into the exhibit, the trunk from which the D.C. Sniper, John Allen Muhammad, shot and murdered his eight victims in 2002 stood below a full wall description of the news coverage that went into the case and trial. Clippings from newspapers in the D.C area as well as wanted posters for potential vehicles and a diagram of how he shot from the trunk brought me back to the days of school evacuations out of fear of the Sniper. The entrance to the Berlin Wall Gallery is marked by seven columns of the wall that were transferred from Berlin to the U.S. specifically for display at the Newseum. As I walked around the wall, the difference between the East Berlin side covered in graffiti and the West Berlin side that was pure white were mirrored by articles and analysis of how the wall could not stop information and media from reaching between the two sides of Berlin. On the top floor, there’s a breath-taking view of the Capitol building from the Pennsylvania Avenue Terrace, which wraps around the Front Pages Gallery. Front Pages from prominent papers in each of the 50 states and other nations are posted on the wall facing the terrace daily, emphasizing regional differences in top news. The New York Times had a large image of Derek Jeter, prefacing the Yankees’ winning the American League Championship, which was not hinted at on the front page of Milwaukee’s Journal Sentinel. “The Story of News” holds 1,000 historic newspaper front pages and interactive screens that build a timeline demonstrating the advancements in journalism over the years. One memorable front page was from the Los Angeles Times on the day after the Titanic sank, claiming that all the passengers were safe; the headline clearly demonstrated how slowly news traveled in the early 1900s. As I continued, the iconic destroyed antenna from the World Trade Center marked the entrance to the 9/11 Gallery, “Chronicling an Attack on America.” The walls around the antenna are covered in front pages from newspapers around the world on September 11, 2001; my eye immediately hit the striking headline form the San Francisco Examiner that read “BASTARDS!”

The World News Gallery features a large world map, displaying the differences in press freedom and literacy levels around the globe. Images of reporters who placed themselves in the line of fire are displayed alongside evidence of their bravery. Journalist Daniel Pearl’s laptop and bloody notebook sits under accounts of his experience in the Middle East that eventually led to his untimely death. The exhibit also holds the ballot box from the 1994 elections in South Africa that ended the apartheid. These moving displays directed me through the Journalists Memorial that honors over 1,800 journalists that have dies for their work since the mid-1800s. The Bloomberg Internet, TV, and Radio Gallery uses a virtual timeline of news clips to demonstrate the advancement of technologies used in news. As I walked around the gallery, different touch screens show clips ranging from the Apollo 11 Mission, to the introduction of the Internet, and even the video clip from a camera phone during the Virginia Tech shootings. In the NBC Interactive Newsroom, the process of creating a newscast is brought to life. Eight stages allow guests to perform their own newscast, computers around the room provide information about production techniques, and the “NewsMania” game tests hot-seat knowledge on current events. The Bancroft Family Ethics Center puts visitors in the position of determining the solutions to common ethical dilemmas faced by reporters. Other notable features of the Newseum are the “Woodstock at 40” exhibit, the 4-D theater, and a cafeteria inspired by famous chef, Wolfgang Puck. Admission to the Newseum is well worth the price: $19.95 for general admission, $17.95 for seniors over 65 and students with a valid ID, and $12.95 for children ages 7-18.