The Newseum is Washington's newest tourist attraction. A gift from the Gannett Foundation, the modernistic $450 million edifice looms over Pennsylvania Avenue just down from Capitol Hill, an ironically grandiose tribute to the struggling newspaper industry. It had its formal opening last month, and it's definitely worth visiting, even if tickets cost $20.
I didn't make it to the opening but I went there Saturday on a beautiful spring day with my wife and a couple from Richmond, Va., along with hundreds of other visitors. It's an incredible museum, as technologically - and architecturally - advanced as any in the world. We spent two hours but could have spent the entire day; there are seven levels with 14 permanent galleries, including a section of the Berlin Wall, 15 theaters and dozens of interactive displays detailing the history of print, broadcast and photojournalism.
The history of newsgathering is told from the early days of the Republic to the Civil War to the Great Depression, to the two World Wars to Vietnam to 9/11 to the war in Iraq. There are even 48 kiosks where you can pretend you're Wolf Blitzer or the editor of the Washington Post, or call up a color display of your hometown newspaper, whether it's from St. Paul, St. Petersburg or Sao Paolo.
But for me, the highlight of the Newseum's vast array of exhibits promoting freedom of the press are the facsimiles of the front pages of newspapers from all over the country and the world aligned in front of the building along Pennsylvania Avenue. They are the latest editions, electronically reproduced each day in full-size color, and they provide a snapshot of what newspapers are offering their readers.
I stopped there on Wednesday on my way to the U.S. Capitol to see what kind of play newspapers were giving to the jeremiads of Barack Obama's former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. No question it's a big deal as it was the lead story in all but a handful of U.S. papers, complete with huge photos or Obama and/or Rev. Wright in most of them.
Some examples: Chicago Tribune ("Obama Outraged by Wright"); Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ("Obama Forcefully Cuts Ties to Rev. Wright"); Charlotte Observer ("Obama: I Find These Comments Appalling"); Omaha World Herald ("Did Obama Split with ex-Pastor in Time? Political Analyists Say It May Be Too Late to Help in Primaries"); San Francisco Chronicle ("Will Rebuke Rid Obama of His Pastor Problem? Analysts Say Response to Wright Likely to be Effective"). The Indianapolis Star's coverage of the key Indiana primary, buried the Obama-Wright story under one about Clinton urging Democrats not to switch sides whoever gets the nomination.
Only a handful of U.S. newspapers failed to front page the Obama-Wright controversy. The Norfolk Virginian-Pilot understandably devoted its coverage to a devastating tornado in the area, while the Shreveport Times reported that Hillary Clinton outraised Obama $749,000 to $387,000 even though Obama won the state's primary by a 57-36 percent margin. The big news in the Casper, Wyo., Tribune was not Clinton or Obama or John McCain but "Tribe Opens Casino", while the Des Moines Register, obviously moving on to other things now that the Iowa caucuses are over, asked, "Which Salsa Tastes Better?"
But the message I came away with from my visit to the Newseum is that every newspaper. as well as radio and television, is now devoting enormous resources to online journalism, where the future of the news business is headed, if it has not already arrived. The Newseum's impressive displays highlight a reminder that while newspapers represent "the first rough draft of history," as the Washington Post's late publisher Philip Graham once declared, they also serve as a reminder that in the brave new world of the Internet, we journalists have to become MPCP's, or multi-platform content providers if we don't want to suffer the fate of dinosaurs.
How can anybody take them seriously?
You'd think with all the effort the corporate media is expending to remain relevant, a little professionalism in the name selection would be obvious.
Instead, they chose the Disney angle, where ignorant parents can get excited about signing the permission slips for such a catchy field trip outing.
As for selling it to us, Al boasting that the best part can be viewed from outside...
... I'm sold!
Not.
Too late. they already are, and have been for a while, dinosaurs.
The truth is a tricky matter. One must read and learn from many sources to finally determine some approximation of the truth. "Real" journalists have failed to provide the facts, in context for years, maybe forever.
I keep thinking of seeing an event live, then listening to the "Journalists" describe something completely different than what I just saw. Makes me believe sometimes that we were viewing completely different events.
Dinosaurs. yes, definitely dinosaurs.
These days, it is not nearly enough for the press to be free and making use of the latest digital platforms. It must be intelligent, too, if the democracy it serves is to survive and thrive.
Journalists miss the point if they believe that, in the age of the internet(s), they must become MPCP’s or risk suffering the fate of the dinosaurs. Journalists must provide context or the content they provide is meaningless. It will be the lack of context and the inability to inform the people about what they need to know that orchestrates the demise of journalism and the weakening of American democracy.
All the news we receive today is faked, skewed, spun, false, invented or totally biased. Remember a journalist is supposed to report the facts, tell the story, be honest and unbiased. Now how many can you name without the shadow of doubt that still live by the journalistic rules, I can't think of any, I thought that Dan Rather did but boy was I proven wrong.
And that NAME! What were they thinking?
This is anonymous.
I have come to replace you.
You have become shockingly irrelevant with your short attention span and relentless focus on the latest titilating headline.
I will no longer be hostage to your
values and commercial breaks.
Any further attempts to command and
control me will fail.
I have watched your television shows for the last fifty years and I have decided to improve upon them.
I have listened to your radio music and I have decided to support other bands.
I have read your newspapers and I no longer want you telling me what to think.
I have decided to no longer be hostage to your media rulers.
Since you operate on fear, you will attempt to bull lee this change into oblivion.
You will try to coalesce with former competitors.
Still this will not change the fact that you are living in a sand castle.
You own nothing.
There is no such thing as intellectual property.
I recognize no law.
You have created nothing, which I can not create for myself.
The wave is approaching.
This is the end.
Goodbye.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oA11ElI0FM