Just steps from the US Capitol in Washington, the Newseum’s gleaming glass-and-steel structure has for more than a decade been a shining symbol for the press and free expression.
However, in a reflection of the woes facing the US media industry — which is itself struggling financially while also facing repeated attacks from political leaders — the Newseum is to close its doors on Tuesday next week.
The museum, with exhibits covering the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the Berlin Wall, as well as a daily display of front pages from around the world, announced earlier this year that it would sell its building designed by architect James Polshek to Johns Hopkins University for US$372.5 million.
Photo: AFP
The Freedom Forum, a nonprofit group created by USA Today founder Al Neuharth that operates the facility, has pledged to continue its mission of educating the public about the importance of a free press, but has not indicated if it would open a new public exhibit space.
“The future of the Newseum is unclear at this time,” forum spokeswoman Sonya Gavankar said. “It’s going to take us at least six months to deinstall the exhibits and move them to our dedicated archive facility. After that process is complete, we’re going to start looking at what the future holds for us.”
The next step could be another museum structure, traveling exhibits or merely an online presence that relates the importance of journalism and a free press.
The first Newseum opened in 1997 in Arlington, Virginia, and in 2008, it moved to a US$450 million building with a seven-story atrium on Pennsylvania Avenue, between the Capitol and the White House.
Over its two decades, the Newseum has welcomed about 10 million visitors and hosted hundreds of media events and conferences.
Visitors to the Newseum in its final days said that they would miss the place.
Cathy Cawley of Ashland, Virginia, said that she had wanted to see the Newseum for a second time before it closed for its “expansive and beautiful” exhibits, and found the monument to journalists killed doing their jobs particularly moving.
“I was looking at the wall showing the exhibit about journalists killed in action, and it makes me realize how important a free press is,” she said.
Julia Greenwald, who teaches English at Friendship Public Charter School in Washington, brought a group of her elementary and middle-school students before the Newseum closing.
“It’s one of the coolest museums in [Washington,] DC. It’s sad that it’s closing,” she said. “In the current political climate, it’s so important for kids to be media-literate, to learn about the value of a free press.”
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