Newseum: A Media Rendering of Our History

Newseum, a 250,000-square-foot museum of news in Washington, DC, contains a vast compendium of human history told by news people.
Newseum: A Media Rendering of Our History
MANGLED ANTENNA: The 9/11 Gallery featured at Washington, DC's Newseum, features the twisted remains of a 360-foot antenna mast that topped the North Tower before it fell in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. (Andrea Hayley/The Epoch Times)
Andrea Hayley
11/28/2010
Updated:
3/19/2013
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/FreedomMap.jpg"><img class="wp-image-116363" title="PRESS FREEDOM MAP: A world map displayed at Newseum shows an index of press freedom around the world, ranging from free (Green), partly free (Yellow), and not free (Red).  (Andrea Hayley/The Epoch Times)" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/FreedomMap-601x450.jpg" alt="" width="590"/></a>

WASHINGTON—Newseum, a 250,000-square-foot museum of news in Washington, D.C., contains a vast compendium of human history told by news people. Its contents are imbued with the fundamental import of a free press.

Newseum is nothing less than a celebration of the role that news media plays in our lives. The museum’s 15 major galleries and smaller exhibits relive some of the most pivotal moments of human history through the media’s lens, showcasing anew humanity’s triumphs, as well as our bitter shortcomings.

It also celebrates the newspaperman’s noble profession of bringing truth to light, even in adverse conditions. It is a fine exposition of cheerleading for press freedom. One may say that it is very American.

Freedom Forum, the nonpartisan foundation that funded and operates Newseum, is dedicated to the free press, free speech, and free spirit for all people. The foundation was founded by USA TODAY founder Al Neuharth.

Eight major media companies, as well as Cox Enterprises, Robert H. and Clarice Smith, and the Annenberg Foundation, also made major financial contributions to the Newseum, which opened in April 2008, after its former location in Arlington closed in 2002.

The first exhibit visitors are likely to encounter (if they follow the suggested tour path) depictions of one of journalism’s finest hours. It is hard to miss the lineup of eight 12-foot-tall cement slabs, standing adjacent a 3-story-tall watchtower topped with a bright searchlight. It is the Berlin Wall Gallery.

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/911_medium.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-116364" title="MANGLED ANTENNA: The 9/11 Gallery featured at Washington, DC's Newseum, features the twisted remains of a 360-foot antenna mast that topped the North Tower before it fell in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. (Andrea Hayley/The Epoch Times)" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/911_medium-302x450.jpg" alt="MANGLED ANTENNA: The 9/11 Gallery featured at Washington, DC's Newseum, features the twisted remains of a 360-foot antenna mast that topped the North Tower before it fell in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. (Andrea Hayley/The Epoch Times)" width="320"/></a>
MANGLED ANTENNA: The 9/11 Gallery featured at Washington, DC's Newseum, features the twisted remains of a 360-foot antenna mast that topped the North Tower before it fell in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. (Andrea Hayley/The Epoch Times)

The artifacts invoke powerful recollections of Communist-era tyranny. They stir the heart, while placards and video give voice to this human emotion, and the powerful role media played in ending the oppression of the people.

In the lead-up to the fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germans were allowed to watch the news broadcast out of West Germany, which widely reported East German protests about their own impoverished living conditions under communism. The wave of attempted escapes by East Germans, some which were successful, and some resulting in death, highlighted and emboldened the feelings of desperation felt by many East Germans at the time.

One particular escape attempt that of 18-year-old Peter Fechter, is highlighted in the exhibit. Media reported how the young man was shot attempting to scale the wall, and was left to bleed to death within sight of East German police. The incident incensed and invoked the German people’s desire for freedom.

American media, according to the Newseum, even got creative when NBC paid for the construction of a tunnel underneath the wall, in exchange for the right to film the escapees en route.

And on the triumphant day the wall fell, American media was there reporting the awestruck crowds congregated on top of and along the wall.

The Berlin Wall exhibit captures the glory and potential of a free flow of information, and casts its opposite in vivid relief. From East Germany’s portion of the wall, painted a stark white, to the colorful graffiti on the West German side, the power of press freedom makes its first powerful appearance in Newseum. But there is much more to follow.

Continued on the next page...

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Atrium.jpg"><img class="wp-image-116365" title="NEW SHOWCASE: The Great Hall of News Atrium in Washington, D.C.����¯�¿�½���¯���¿���½����¯�¿�½������¢����¯�¿�½������¯����¯�¿�½������¿����¯�¿�½������½����¯�¿�½������¯����¯�¿�½������¿����¯�¿�½������½s Newseum is 90 feet tall, showcases breaking news on the big screen, latest headlines on an electronic zipper, and a Bell helicopter, used for news gathering missions.  (Andrea Hayley/The Epoch Times)" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Atrium-601x450.jpg" alt="" width="590"/></a>

Newseum triggers memories, and highlights the power of the press. A 9/11 exhibit’s focal point is the twisted remains of a 360-foot antenna mast that once topped the North Tower. Behind it, a wall of newspaper front pages capture the horror of that day in Technicolor—“Terror and disbelief,” says the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “HORROR,” states a Washington Times Extra edition.

A video gallery, nestled adjacent the exhibit shows “Running Toward Danger,” a video chronicling the day of the terrorist attacks as witnessed by reporters at the scene. Thomas Franklin, an American photographer for The Bergen Record, recounts how he captured his famous photograph, “Raising the Flag at Ground Zero.” The photograph depicts a patriotic moment of firefighters raising an American flag amid the wreckage, and has often been compared to the famous photograph by Joe Rosenthal, “Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima.”

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/BerlinWall_medium.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-116366" title="THE FALL OF THE WALL: Newseum gives the media credit for informing East Germans about their own countrymen����¯�¿�½������¢������¯������¿������½������¯������¿������½s efforts to escape the country, and their discontent about impoverished living conditions under communism. The information helped fuel the change in public opinion that eventually toppled the Berlin wall. (Andrea Hayley/The Epoch Times)" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/BerlinWall_medium-338x450.jpg" alt="THE FALL OF THE WALL: Newseum gives the media credit for informing East Germans about their own countrymen����¯�¿�½������¢������¯������¿������½������¯������¿������½s efforts to escape the country, and their discontent about impoverished living conditions under communism. The information helped fuel the change in public opinion that eventually toppled the Berlin wall. (Andrea Hayley/The Epoch Times)" width="320"/></a>
THE FALL OF THE WALL: Newseum gives the media credit for informing East Germans about their own countrymen����¯�¿�½������¢������¯������¿������½������¯������¿������½s efforts to escape the country, and their discontent about impoverished living conditions under communism. The information helped fuel the change in public opinion that eventually toppled the Berlin wall. (Andrea Hayley/The Epoch Times)

Reporting on the business of food, food tech, and Silicon Alley, I studied the Humanities as an undergraduate, and obtained a Master of Arts in business journalism from Columbia University. I love covering the people, and the passion, that animates innovation in America. Email me at andrea dot hayley at epochtimes.com
Related Topics