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10 April 2008

Washington’s “Newseum” Promotes Free Flow of Information

Founders says it is the most advanced and interactive museum in the world

Washington’s Newseum shows visitors how important the free flow of information is to democracy. (State Dept./Stephen Kaufman)

By Stephen Kaufman
Staff Writer

Washington -- Washington’s Newseum opens its doors to the public April 11 on the city’s famous Pennsylvania Avenue, blocks from the U.S. Capitol. With a focus on journalism and the profession’s impact throughout history, the Newseum is dedicated to helping its visitors broaden their understanding of the role of the media and the rights and responsibilities that come with freedom of expression.

Newseum President Peter Pritchard told journalists and guests at an April 8 preview of the museum that he hopes “visitors will come to the museum as tourists but leave as better informed citizens.”

Despite a shift away from traditional media such as newspapers and radio, there are “enduring truths” about journalism that will continue to resonate with the public, Pritchard said, adding “the hunger for news and information has never been greater all around the world … [and] democracy anywhere cannot exist without a free flow of information.”

Among the Newseum’s artifacts are sections of the Berlin Wall with a reconstructed guard tower, the ruins of a television antenna that was on top of one of New York’s World Trade Center towers and the walking stick of Cameroonian journalist and press freedom advocate Pius Njawé, who has been arrested more than 125 times and imprisoned for printing material that Cameroon’s government deemed inappropriate.

The museum also houses a memorial to 1,843 journalists from around the world who were killed between 1837 and 2007 while covering news events.

The Newseum uses galleries and interactive exhibits to chronicle the history of journalism. (State Dept./Stephen Kaufman)

In addition, the $450 million project boasts 15 theaters and 14 galleries, complete with 23 hours of videos and 130 interactive elements.  At the media preview, Newseum Chief Executive Officer Charles Overby described the end product as “the most technologically advanced museum … [and] the most interactive museum in the world.”

The museum hosts two television studios where visitors can watch as U.S. news programs such as ABC’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos are produced, and even get video footage of themselves trying their hands at being a correspondent in front of the White House and other Washington landmarks.

“We built this museum to inform, inspire and entertain people about a free press,” Overby said.

MEDIA FAILURES AND TRIUMPHS

Some areas of the museum showcase situations in which the media has failed to accurately inform the public, highlighting episodes of inaccuracy, bias, misuse of sources, willful deception and other errors.  At the same time, there are showcases on media triumphs, such as the Washington Post’s reporting on the 1972 Watergate burglary that ultimately exposed abuses of power by President Richard Nixon’s administration. (See “Newspaperman Ben Bradlee Says Good Reporters Dig for Truth.”)

Much of the Newseum focuses on American journalism and how the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees the freedom of the press as well as the freedoms of speech and religion, has enabled American journalists to do their job.  However, Executive Director Joe Urschel said, the Newseum also looks at news “in a global sense” including galleries on freedom of the press around the world and a daily display of global newspapers.

Urschel said the gallery housing the 60-ton section of the Berlin Wall is meant to show how the former East German government imprisoned its citizens in their own country, but could not block the entry of news and information from the United States and Western Europe.

“[W]e believe that news and information fueled the Germans in their quest for freedom,” he said.