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Exhibition Review
The Newseum. Washington, D.C. http://www.newseum.org.
Permanent exhibition, opened April 2008. 250,000 sq. ft. Alberto Ibarguen, chairman; Charles L. Overby, chief executive officer; The Freedom Forum, benefactor; Ralph Appelbaum Associates, exhibition design firm; Polshek Partnerships Architects, building design firm.
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| April of 2008 was certainly an interesting time to open a museum of the news. The traditional purveyors of the news (journalists, newspapers, and nightly television) were all in the advanced stages of a crisis that threatened—and continues to threaten—their very existence. The troubled state of the institutions that have traditionally provided information to Americans hovers over the Newseum. Stephen Colbert, host of The Colbert Report, may have said it best in a video he made for the Newseum's opening (and which runs continuously in the museum). After first noting that museums are built about things that are no longer alive or important, he concludes, "Joke's on you, journalists. The construction of this museum effectively marks the end of the news." Indeed, Colbert's comments point to a tension in the museum itself: what is the connection between professional journalism and the news? |
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The 250,000 square-foot Newseum occupies a prime location on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. between the White House and the U.S. Capitol building. Entering the magnificent atrium, "The Ochs-Sulzberger Family Great Hall of News," the visitor looks up past giant screens of flashing news headlines at many of the museum's seven different levels. After purchasing tickets, visitors are directed to the basement and an orientation video. Narrated by the familiar voice of the cbs newscaster Charles Os-good, the video tries to define the news and the focus of the museum by telling us: "It's news when you're the first. War is always news. Where there's life, there's news. A death is news. Love is news. Hate is news. Information is where liberty starts, that's the news." Given this limitless definition, it is hard to figure out what might be included or excluded from a museum of the news—a central dilemma here. |
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After they view the video, visitors are encouraged to take the elevators to the top floor and work their way down through the museum, essentially moving through the history of the news. The top floor has space for special exhibits and an outside balcony with a magnificent view. The current special exhibit focuses on the Abraham Lincoln assassination in 1865 and the search for and punishment of the assassins. Based on James L. Swanson's 2007 book Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer, the exhibit provides many fascinating insights into the enduring issues with which the rest of the museum grapples—especially the uneasy tension between journalism, the nature of the media used to communicate information, and the quality of that information. For example, the special exhibit shows that while the telegraph was significant in speeding the story of the assassination and the Associated Press is credited with breaking it, the story actually spread faster via word-of-mouth communication, with all its attendant inaccuracies and distortions. |
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