Opening of The Newseum

Photo: Tonie AuerBy Tonie Auer
DFW Chapter President

On Friday, the Newseum opens. According to the Newseum, the 250,000-square-foot museum of news offers visitors an experience that blends five centuries of news history with up-to-the-second technology and hands-on exhibits.

The Newseum is located at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and Sixth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., on America’s Main Street, between the White House and the U.S. Capitol and adjacent to the Smithsonian museums on the National Mall. The exterior’s architectural features include a 74-foot-high marble engraving of the First Amendment and an immense front wall of glass through which passers-by can watch the museum fulfill its mission of providing a forum where the media and the public can gain a better understanding of each other.

The Newseum features seven levels of galleries, theaters, retail spaces and visitor services. It offers a unique environment that takes museumgoers behind the scenes to experience how and why news is made.

But not everyone is thrilled with the Newseum. Jack Shafer at Slate called it four-years-in-the-building, seven-story, steel-and-glass monument to journalistic vanity.

Regardless of the various opinions, I will likely plunk down my $20 if/when I'm in DC to see the Newseum. I, personally, think it sounds pretty cool.

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Comments:
We just had a write-up on the Newseum in our Sunday paper's travel section ... I can hardly wait to visit it. The name brings back a lot of memories ... one of the first ASBPE National Editorial Conferences that I was involved in doing the site selection for was at the Key Bridge Marriott in Washington, DC. (Actually across the river in Artington, Va.) We included a walk over to the original Newseum at the end of the program's final day, as it was so close. Even though it was rather small, it was a very intresting place, especially for a bunch of editors!
# posted by Blogger Paul J. Heney : April 29, 2008 at 7:34 AM
 
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