Newseum Closing
Sad sign of the times.
The Newseum, a Washington D.C. museum dedicated to the history and impact of journalism, has occupied a prominent spot on Pennsylvania Avenue, just off the National Mall and blocks from the White House, but it is closing its doors December 31 2019. The exhibits are moving into storage and I’m told that John Hopkins University will be taking over the 250,000-square-foot space.
I got a chance to visit in the waning weeks and found it a profound reminder of how much we need the news. A two-story wall of photos forms a memorial to journalists who have lost their lives bringing the truth to light. A 36-foot-wide map, updated annually, highlights the level of press freedom in countries around the world.
When I visited, there were special exhibits highlighting the role played by the press in the civil rights movement, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the LBGTQ rights movement, and the Vietnam war. I was a struck by video of recently deceased Congressman Elijah Cummings saying that without the press coverage of the civil rights movement there would have never have been the widespread change in the United States seen in the 1960s. News stories and videos of peaceful black protestors and violent police response changed the national conversation for good. There were also exhibits criticizing the press. For example, a well-researched film documenting how the US press actively chose not to expose the horrors of the ongoing Holocaust during World War II.
One room contained original artifacts tracing the history of the news from when it was literally “a press” to social media.
For me, the most powerful exhibit was of all the Pulitzer Prize winning photographs. Each image like a punch to the gut. Consider the vulnerability and the bravery it would take to do that, to put yourself in a position to document some of the toughest experiences in our world. Beyond the individual winning images, the exhibit included interviews with the photographers and other photographs from the same event that added welcome depth, complexity and context.
Here was the view from the Newseum roof terrace on December 2019. I can see Congress squarely in its sights. But the Newseum is closing. What will the view be 10 years from now? We need shared facts and those dedicated to bringing the truth to light and speaking truth to power more than ever! Local newsrooms are closing every where we look and many other news outlets are struggling. What do we lose when journalists are moved to the side? When we don’t pay, either in our attention or in our dollars, for high quality journalism?
The truth can be hard to look at, but we push it to the side and out of the national conversation in favor of less challenging narratives at our own peril. I challenge you to choose some sources of high quality journalism, local and global, and support them with a subscription or a donation and your attention. Mischief thrives were no one is shining a light and we will get the government and the world we pay attention to.
Even though the Newseum is closing, a small window if its exhibits will continue online for now, including a searchable database of the Journalists Memorial and a fascinating database of the front pages of newspapers from around the country and around the world collected daily.
Some recent sad news about local news.
Local newsrooms are closing. Here is why that matters: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/local-newsrooms-across-the-country-are-closing-heres-why-that-matters
More than 1 in 5 U.S. papers has closed: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/21/reader-center/local-news-deserts.html
The Martinez News-Gazette, that once sent a reporter to cover the Civil War, is closing : https://www.kqed.org/news/11791764/after-161-years-an-era-of-local-news-ends-in-martinez
Local news is dying: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/03/local-news-is-dying-and-americans-have-no-idea/585772/
