The Newseum on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC shut
down after 12 years, on December 31st, 2019.
But thank God1 The display of the frontpages of over 700 newspapers across the world continues on its website. To cross-check, I visited the web site, https://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/
and I could see he familiar home page of the link.
Run by the Freedom
Forum, it was created for visitors to explore the five freedoms of the First
Amendment in an innovative and interactive manner. In this sense, over ten million viewers experienced the story of news, the role of a free press
throughout history, and application of the five freedoms of the First Amendment
— religion, speech, press, assembly and petition, to their lives.
Due
to unsustainable maintenance costs, creator
and primary funder, The Freedom Forum sold the building to Johns Hopkins
University for $372.5 million to be used for their graduate programs. Named
one of the “world’s greatest places” by Time magazine in 2019, the comprehensive display is nothing but a historical landmark for print media, with its
80-foot-tall marble tablet engraved with the First Amendment. Sadly, a loss in the world of print journalism is a win for
the university.
It’s
permanent collection included: Comcast’s 9/11 Gallery - a display of the
broadcast antennae from the top of the World Trade Centre; an 8 sectioned
concrete Berlin Wall Gallery - one of the largest displays of the original wall
outside Germany; and the Pulitzer Prize Photographs Gallery, featuring
photographs from every Pulitzer Prize-winning entry dating back to 1942. In
addition, there were over 60 changing exhibits ranging from coverage of Hurricane
Katrina; presidential assassinations; the Vietnam war, major moments in the
civil rights movement to topics like FBI and the press, the rise of the LGBTQ
rights movement; as well as a several exhibits focusing on popular culture,
editorial cartoonist and noteworthy journalists.
While
the search for a new home is still on the cards, the question remains: what
will happen to all the artefacts on display? The donations to the permanent
collection, owned by the Freedom Forum, will be stored in a state-of-the-art
support centre, and selectively be loaned for
educational programs, public events, digital initiatives, etc. Meanwhile, their
digital outreach and web-based programs across the world will continue.The rest
of the items have been sent back to the owners and may sadly, never see the
light of day again, put away in boxes of memorabilia by the donors.
In
the age of fake news and digitization, print media – the first rough draft of
history – unaltered was what the Newseum served as a reminder for. With
deception being at an all time high, it is important to have tangible evidence
of history to inspire the youth to look for the truth and understand the power
of the media. With its closing, print media’s role as an agent of truth and
change hangs in the balance.
Among Newseum’s exhibits were:
A
copy of a 301 year old newspaper, the
Boston News-Letter, which was "the first successful newspaper in
the Colonies."
>>
A 1789 front page that printed the
first 12 proposed amendments to the Constitution. "Article the
Third," about freedom of press and speech and religion, eventually became
the FIRST...
>>
The NYT's 1927 front page about
the test of a new medium called "television."
It's "like a photo come to life,"
but commercial use is "in doubt," the headline
said!--
--Ahana Appiah
My student of Print Media, ahana.appiah@flame.edu.in
--
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