WASHINGTON, D.C. — On historic Pennsylvania Avenue in the nation’s capital, adjacent to landmarks celebrating art and industry, a new museum opened this month celebrating a special overlap of art and industry: the Newseum, a tribute to the Fourth Estate, the news media and America’s commitment to a free press.
Visitors can’t help marveling at the stunning modern architecture, the expansive views of the Capitol, the largest video screen and hydraulic elevators known to mankind and artifacts of journalism past and present.
From cuneiform tablets and a page of the Gutenberg Bible to the New York Post’s infamous “headless body in topless bar” headline, it’s all here — Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite through Stephen Colbert.
Michael Isikoff’s notebook is here, with his first jotting of the name “Monica Lewinsky.” Walter Winchell’s typewriter is here. So are pictures of Woodward and Bernstein.
Centerpieces include a chunk of the Berlin Wall, a fragment of the World Trade Center from 9/11, and the front pages of newspapers from every state and several countries, posted daily outside for passersby to compare and contemplate.
There is much to admire, particularly the exhibits cementing the idea that a free press is part of the foundation of this democracy. But the intriguing artifacts are overshadowed by the self-aggrandizing presence of a handful of corporations that made the fancy presentation possible.
For the steep admission fee of $20 (unheard-of in Washington, where the great museums and art galleries have always been free), visitors are treated to what amount to promotional announcements on behalf of the titans of the business: News Corp., Comcast, Knight and ABC (which has a broadcast studio on an upper floor). There are somber displays, interactive screens and funny bits on mistakes and corrections. But the glorious, expensive whole is strangely unsettling.
This is not so much a museum as a vanity project, teaching less about the founding fathers’ goal of ensuring a free press than about the modern capitalist urge to brand.
One display dedicated to the events of 9/11 is brought to you by Comcast, pairing a somber memorial with a corporate sponsorship in a way that borders on unseemly. Apparently, in news as in toothpaste, it pays to advertise.
Throughout the building, the line between events and the coverage of those events is blurred with little attempt to deconstruct the coverage.
An orientation film narrated by Charles Osgood greets visitors with a grandiose tribute to the concept of “news.” What is news? he asks. Tragedy is news, war is news, so are victory and peace and celebrities. But there is too little effort to ferret out why, to delve into the disagreement on the subject, to appreciate the ongoing questioning within the business as to what constitutes news. This should be a lively debate, not a self-congratulatory love note.
The Newseum is beautiful; the Newseum is problematic.
Ultimately, in a business undergoing seismic shifts including layoffs, buyouts, cutbacks and closures, the idea of toasting bygone days in a $450 million monument to the past (with luxury apartments and restaurant in the same complex) feels strangely out of sync. The effort succeeds better at revitalizing a neighborhood than it does at teaching the value of journalism.
While the guessing continues about the shape and content of the news-delivery systems of the future, it’s heartening to see pedestrians study the front pages displayed on the sidewalk.
On a street with Congress at one end and the White House at the other, America’s media elite are proudly showcased. While admiring the valuable real estate, it’s worth remembering that neither history nor the First Amendment are underwritten by corporate entities.
Joanne Ostrow’s column appears Tuesday, Friday and Sunday: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
