The Newseum.....seriously that's its name

July 29, 2008

A view of the US Capitol from the terrace level of the Newseum

Well, I think I have officially found a winner for my favourite DC area museum contest. The winner……the Newseum. Yes, it is the most recent addition to DC’s museum community (just opened late last year) but it gets its name due to the content. This museum is dedicated to the News and media.

This o-zi (drum) was used in 19th-century Burma to annouce community news. The beating drum could carry news farther and faster than the human voice.

Now it is one of the only museums you are going to pay for in DC (the $20 entry fee seems like a lot when you spend the year visiting free museums) but it is worth every cent. I spent 5 hours there (I had to leave because it closed and they kicked me out) but I would have stayed a lot longer if I could have.

This museum has a little bit of everything…movies, documentaries, history, old newspapers, stuff to play with!!! They say it is the most interactive museum in the world and so far it is the most interactive museum I have been to. Although it is really focused on US media it does have some international stuff as well. It asks a lot of questions and does not necessarily give you the answers. It allows you to make your own decisions which I really liked.

This map represents the level of free media throughout the world. Green means the media is completely free, yellow is partially free and red is no freedom.

It was also neat (and a little annoying) because the museum had several groups of kids coming through the museum (day camps and when I mean several I mean at least 2 on each floor) and instead of just looking at the stuff and taking them on a tour of the museum and helping them fall asleep very early like I have seen in other museums, the kids were given tasks to do in each gallery and a set period of time to do it. They seemed to enjoy it and hopefully they learned something. They even got to use journalism lingo.

This is one of the display cases full of artifacts from journalist. Several of these journalists were jailed, injured and even killed while reporting on stories in conflict zones. Items include a helmet worn by New York Times reporter John F. Burns while covering the conflict in Bosnia in 1993. Burns has also been jailed by the Chinese governement in 1986 and kidnapped in Iraq in 2004. You will also find a pillow case with the words "Please tell my family I love them" written on it. It was found near the body of Canadian TV journalist Clark Todd. Todd was hit by shrapnal while reporting on the Lebanese Civil War in 1983. He gave his passport and wedding ring to a cameraman to take to his family. His body was found by the Red Cross a week later.

Of course one the museum’s focus was the discussion of The First Amendment and the five freedoms that are guaranteed to all Americans. Can you name them all? Well apparently less then 3% of Americans can, although more than 20% of Americans can name all five Simpsons (Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie by the way). Of course the five freedoms are 1) religion, 2) speech, 3) assembly, 4) petition and 5) press. In fact the First Amendment is written on a 22.5 metre (74 feet) tall marble tablet on the outside of the building. If you don’t make it into the museum you certainly cannot miss this.

Also outside the museum you will find the daily front page of a paper from every state in the US and a few from around the world. People are always stopping to see what is going on in other places. It also gives you an idea of how different cities cover the same story depending on its local importance. It was in fact from the front page of the Edmonton Journal posted outside this museum that I learned all about the increased incidence of syphilis in Alberta. Makes you think a little about how others will view our issues when looking at it from the outside.

An old printing press on display at the Newseum

Once again I also got to experience a 4D film as they seem to be all the rage in museums these days. I knew a little bit more what to experience this time so no rats running over my feet. This one was a little more like a rollercoaster as the seats moved a lot more as it took you through the history of news and journalism and some moments that changed news. One of the very interesting stories was one about a female reporter who went undercover to pose as an insane woman so she could report on conditions in a female insane assylum. It was neat in 3D and in motion.

There was also a special exhibit called, G-Men and Journalists about the sometimes cooperative, and sometimes combative relationship between the FBI and the news media. They talked about and had artifacts from many big cases including the Unabomber (his cabin was there), The DC area snipers (they talked about how tips from people based on the fact that the media had reported that the snipers were traveling in a white van kept officials very busy…looking the wrong way. The snipers were of course not in a white van when they were caught), the assault on the Davidian ranch at Waco Texas (apparently Davidians at the ranch knew the FBI and ATF were coming because one of them ran into media personnal following the FBI in a local store the day before....there are still debates about whether this knowledge contributed to the number of dead and injured during the assault) and a few others. It was also very interesting how J. Edgar Hoover used the media in attempts to discredit people or groups that he did not like including Martin Luthur King, JFK and many other special interest groups.

J. Edgar Hoover was on loan from Madame Tussaudes wax museum.

Another very neat exhibit was the Berlin Wall exhibit. There actually was a piece of the wall in the museum along with a rebuilt guard tower. The gallery of course focused on the movement of news and information into East Germany, mostly by word of mouth. Of course there were also a few pictures showing how people were smuggled out of East Germany. Very interesting.

The Pulitzer-Prize photographs gallery was also very neat to see. Basically every photograph that has won a Pulitzer Prize over the last little while (really don’t remember how long) as well as interviews with some of the photographers who took the photos. Although a picture says a thousand words hearing the photographers background stories really did add to the pictures.

And I could talk all day about this museum but there is just too much to tell. If you make it to Washington DC and you have a few days this museum is a must. Check out the website. http://www.newseum.org/

Julie