So... I had one more personal day before the school year ends, and my wife took the same day off. I wanted to see the newly opened Newseum. I worked in the newspaper industry for nine years, and I have a particular interest in the subject matter. Also, I had been to the old Newseum in Rosslyn, Virginia, and enjoyed going there. So, we hopped in the car and took the 2-hour drive to Washington.
The plan was to park the car at a suburban Metro station, and take the Metro into town. I originally wanted to park the car in Virginia (because we would be spending the evening at Tysons Corner Center), but I had a conversation with a very friendly person on the Metro information line, and he suggested I park at Greenbelt, because it almost always has parking available. I am sure I am not the first person to say that the Washington Metro is one of the cleanest and most efficient mass transit systems I've ever been on. I am used to the Philly subway stations that smell like urine, and lately, people have been getting jumped for no reason at these stations. Washington's stations and trains are impeccably clean, and crime is almost nonexistent. We used a SmartTrip card which worked very well, even though it took me a little while to refill the card, pissing off a rather impatient commuter.
Anyway, we take the Metro to the Archives-Navy Memorial station, just two blocks from the Newseum. After a short walk, we reached the building. The Newseum is huge and modern, and there is a 70-foot plaque on the front of the building with the First Amendment on it. Outside of the building, front pages from newspapers in all 50 states and around the world are posted. We enter the museum, go through the metal detectors, and present the tickets I had already bought for $22 apiece online. Ouch!
20-plus dollars is a lot of money for a museum in Washington, considering many museums are free. However, I believed it was worth the money. First of all, there were staffers everywhere. Everyone was very friendly and helpful, giving directions, and talking about each of the exhibits.
Also, we picked a good day to go, because the crowds weren't bad at all. We had no problem getting to any of the interactive exhibits, and there weren't too many bratty kids there. This was a nice contrast to a visit to the Franklin Institute several weeks ago to see the Star Wars exhibit, which was absolute pandemonium. I was watching a 5-minute film on how the models were made in the movies, and someone's bratty child hit the button resetting the film when it was about halfway over and I was really starting to get into it. The hellion's parent apologized as I walked away red-faced. If that was my kid, my foot would have been up his ass. All I got out of the exhibit was a splitting headache, which didn't go away until I had a beer with lunch.
Anyway, back to the Newseum... On the lower floor, there was a brief orientation film talking about what makes news (pretty self-explanatory) and a brief overview of the museum's layout.
There is also a piece of the Berlin Wall, which we didn't really get a close look at.
Then you take a large glass elevator up to the top floor. These elevators, direct from the Willy Wonka chocolate factory, are the tallest hydraulic-lift elevators in the world. Oooooh...
On the top floor, there is an outdoor terrace overlooking Pennsylvania Ave., offering a great view of the Capitol Building. Inside is another area displaying the front pages of the day. Also, computer touch screens allow you to access even more front pages that aren't out on display.
Next was the history of news exhibit, which was comprehensive to say the least. It had literally hundreds of newspapers, magazines and other publications you could view through glass cases from the 1500s to the present. Also, all of these samples were accessible on computer touch screens. Also, there were small theaters adjacent to this exhibit showing films about bias, choosing sources, and getting it right. I found all of these interesting. As a former member of the media, I could relate to a lot of the content. The film about sources talks about how frequently anonymous snd unverified sources are used, and how older members of the media seem to frown on this. It made me think of a story in the paper I used to work for in which a 50-something card shop owner was supposedly called to duty in Iraq, making him the oldest helicopter pilot in the armed forces. It turned out the story was a big lie, and he showed the reporter a forged letter from a commanding officer. This ended up on the front page of the paper.
I highly recommend the film on getting it right, because it elaborates on the different ways mistakes get published in the paper or appear on TV. It talked about reporters who fabricated stories like Stephen Glass and Jayson Blair, the Florida debacle in the 2000 presidential election, and the media's conviction of Richard Jewell in the Atlanta Olympic park bombing.
Also, it shows how dumb mistakes appear on the news, such as the headline "First woman reaches top of Mr. Everest." I have personally been responsible for a few dumb mistakes getting into the paper, and I appreciate the film's argument that journalists are only human.
Then, it was on to an disturbing exhibit where Don Bolles' bomb-damaged car was on display. Bolles was an investigative reporter who was targed by the Mafia. After the explosion, we was alive in the hospital for 11 days, and had both legs and an arm amputated before succumbing to his injuries. Bolles was one of the only journalists ever killed on American soil.
Next, was the depressing but well-done 9/11 exhibit, which was centered around a piece of the antenna mast from the World Trade Center. Next to it was a wall full of front pages from the day, including the famous and controversial page from the San Francisco Chronicle with a picture of the second plane colliding with the tower and the word "Bastards!" in the headline. I think that page did a pretty good job summarizing America's feelings that day. Around the antenna mast was a chronology of the day's events. It talks about the different levels of advisories for breaking news that the Associated Press uses: AP news alert, bulletin, and AP Flash, the top alert, which is rarely ever used. The AP flash was used when the two towers collapsed.
There was also a fragment of United 93 on hand, and a display on photographer Bill Biggart, the only working journalist to die in the attacks. There was also a well-produced film on the media response on 9/11.
I have to admit I was a little teary-eyed at this exhibit. It took me back to that day, when I worked at a newspaper. It was supposed to be a day off, and I was visiting my parents when it all went down in the morning. Shortly thereafter, I was called into work. The newsroom is usually a noisy place, with lots of talking and joking around. However, on 9/11, there was an eerie silence in the newsroom. People simply did their jobs. At first, I was simply shocked and awed at the magnitude of the attacks. I didn't really get emotional until I began to hear about all of the personal stories, like the children whose parents didn't come home from work, all of the missing person posters that people put up around the World Trade Center, and all of the police and firemen who were lost. A lot of these emotions came back to me when I saw the images in the film of the people who lost their loved ones. Strategically placed boxes of tissues were present throughout the exhibit.
After an informative exhibit going into detail on the five freedoms of the first amendment (Which, as a social studies teacher, I believe every American needs to know), it was time to grab some lunch.
Usually, museums usually serve up greasy fast food that has sat under a heat lamp for about 3 hours, or pizza that tastes like cardboard. Not the case here. Wolfgang Puck developed the menu for the "Food Section" of the Newseum, and he did a phenomenal job. My wife had a Asian BBQ pulled pork sandwich with Napa Slaw, and I had a grilled vegetable panini with goat cheese and olive tampenade. Both of our sandwiches were assembled in front of us and made fresh. My sandwich was made with red pepper, eggplant and zucchini, and was delicious. The flavors and the seasoning were perfect. I had a taste of my wife's sandwich, which was also yummy. I also made a salad from the salad bar. Everything at the salad bar was impeccably fresh. No wilted vegetables or rusty lettuce like I am accustomed to seeing at the grocery store. I also had a small taste of some of the pasta and potato salads in the salad bar which had a fresh and distinctive taste. This was the best meal of the day, considering dinner was a major letdown (more on this later!) Rotisserie chicken, Provencal king salmon, and even sushi were available. Don't worry, the standard snack bar fare like hamburgers and hot dogs were on the menu, and I am sure the quality of those items is up to par with the rest of the items on the menu. Also, everyone was friendly and courteous. Everything came out to about $17 for both of us, which I think is reasonable for the quality of the food. I strongly suggest visiting the cafeteria if you visit the Newseum. My suggestion would be to open the cafeteria up to people not visiting the Newseum, because as of now, you have to pony up the $20 museum admission to access the cafeteria. I would consider eating here during future visits to Washington, even if I am not going to the Newseum.
Back to the exhibits! There was a comprehensive exhibit on press freedoms around the world, and there was even an interactive map showing which countries have a free press and which do not. Like the rest of the Newseum, the computer interfaces are modern, informative and well-executed.
Next was the Journalists memorial, a tribute to all the men and women who died on the job. Information on every journalist in the exhibit could be accessed through a computer.
After that was a great exhibit on television and Internet journalism. It touched on all of the milestones of broadcast journalism, including Edward R. Murrow admonishing Sen. Joseph McCarthy on his tactics to expose communists, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Apollo moon landing, and the Challenger explosion. It also went into detail about the effect of the internet, with sites like YouTube. For example, 10 years ago, George Allen's "macaca moment" may have passed by unnoticed, but in today's wired day and age, it was played over and over again on the Internet, and many argue that it cost him his seat in the Senate.
Then, it was down to the interactive portion of the Newseum, which I found to be very interesting and well-presented. There were plenty of kiosks here, and I didn't have to wait in any lines. I strongly suggest a visit to the Hall of Ethics. You can compete with a friend to see who can put together a newspaper the most quickly by answering questions about ethics. (for example, a local politician's son was stopped for drunk driving. The politician urges you not to run the story. Do you run the story?) Most of the questions were common sense, but older children could learn a lot from this. Much more interesting was the "What would you do" kiosks, in which real experiences of journalists are described, and ask what you would you would do in their place. The example I remembered was Kevin Carter's image taken in Sudan (top right of this entry) depicting a starving young girl crawling to a feeding center as a vulture lurks behind her. Do you help the girl or stay out of the way and cover the events as they happen? Carter eventually shooed the bird away, and let the girl crawl to the feeding center on her own. 14 months later, he won the Pulitzer. Two months after that, he committed suicide.
Anyway, you are asked to make a decision, and then you are given the poll results of previous Newseum visitors, and you are also given the results of several journalists polled for this exhibit. Also, you can listen to the opinions of journalists and journalism professors. Interestingly, the general public's opinion often did not agree with that of journalists. This was probably the most interesting exhibit I saw at the Newseum.
Out in the main interactive area, there were two different kiosks you could use: in "Be a photographer," you got to "shoot" photos of a girl being rescued from a raging river. There were three video clips running at the same time, and you had to choose the one where the action was taking place and shoot stills. Then, you had to choose the best photo for the story. Even though I spent nine years in the newspaper profession picking out the best photos for the stories, I still found this interesting. In "Be a reporter," you are at a circus interviewing performers and police to find out who released all of the circus animals. Also, visitors have the chance to step in front of the camera and report the news. I wasn't one of those visitors, because you have to pay an extra eight bucks to get on camera.
The last exhibit, and the one my wife enjoyed the most, was a gallery of Pulitzer-Prize winning photographs. There was a film that goes into detail on how some of the photos were taken, and you could also pull the photos up on a hi-res computer display and view and zoom in on all of the photos in the exhibit.
I went on to see the film in the Newseum's largest theater, which was a 3-D film, but the Newseum referred to it as "4-D" because the seats moved, and you could feel sensations like the air blowing by you. My wife stayed behind, because she gets motion sickness on these kind of rides. Don't miss the pre-show, it shows parodies of the news, from recent footage of Jon Stewart as well as the classic Saturday Night Live moment where Dan Ackroyd says "Jane, you ignorant slut!"
As for the film itself, it was decent, but not memorable. It seemed like it was aimed at young teens. It briefly chronicled the accomplishments of notable journalists like Nellie Bly and Edward R. Murrow. It was obvious that most, if not all of the film was shot in front of a green screen, a la "300," and there were some gratuitous 3-D effects like a bullet coming toward the camera that were simply there for shock value. Another highlight was the feeling of rats running by your legs while Nellie Bly was undercover in the mental institution.
After that we saw an interesting 30-minute film on the history of sports reporting, then it was back to the car. After an interesting train ride back where a tall guy in a suit was coughing on my germophobe wife and driving her crazy, we made it back to Greenbelt, and it was time to hop in the car and head for Tysons Corner Center.
Overall, I was very pleased with the Newseum. The exhibits were well-researched and presented, and the level of interactive content and computer resources is overwhelming. My only complaint is that some of the Newseum's exhibits got a bit repetitive. Because of the ever-changing nature of the news, the Newseum will have to constantly update its exhibits in order to stay relevant. For example, this year's wild presidential election is already one of the top stories of the decade. And if Barack Obama becomes president, that will be the world's biggest news story since 9/11. Leave yourself at least 6 hours to see the museum, get your money's worth, and take in a meal at the restaurant, which I highly recommend. If you only have a couple of hours, check out the news history gallery, the 5 minute film on getting it right, the 9/11 gallery, the exhibit on internet, TV and radio (watch the film if you have time), The "what would you do" kiosks in the interactive area, and the exhibit on Pulitzer Prize-winning photos. Finally, this is great for people of almost all ages from middle school-age children to adults. I would not recommend bringing small children here because some of the exhibits have some explicit content, and they simply won't understand most of the exhibits.
No comments:
Post a Comment