Honoring News Junkies

Location: Washington, D.C.
August 2010
Adventure #33
Of all the world-renowned museums in Washington, D.C. I planned to see during my visit last month, my first stop required no debate. I wasn't in any hurry to see timeless documents like the original constitution, get up close to Rothkos and Pollocks, or learn the history of Native Americans - although I did later pursue these interests. On my first day in our nation's capital, I immediately headed to the Newseum, an interactive institution dedicated to the news industry.

The building itself is extremely impressive, starting with the entrance that prominently features the First Amendment, which of course is America's finest amendment. Since I didn't know where to start in the 250,000-square-foot museum, I headed downstairs to see an exhibit dedicated to the news industry's coverage of major FBI cases called "G-Men and Journalists," which is where I saw the infamous cabin of Ted Kaczynski.

Besides this eerie relic (pictured), the exhibit had a model of the D.C. Sniper's' car, Patti Hearst's gun, and bios of the most famous gangsters in the 1930s.


The Newseum also featured an enormous library of remarkable newspapers, dating back to the advent of journalism. I got to see the very first women's magazine, copies of early American newspapers that inspired the Revolutionary War, and legendary inaccurate papers like the one that ran a "Dewey Defeats Truman" headline.

What made the museum so interesting was its inclusion of real mementos from intense news subjects, like this counter where a famous sit-in was staged during the Civil Rights Movement, sections of the Berlin Wall or outfits worn by Elvis Presley, who never left the newspapers' limelight.




One section of the museum that I found particularly moving was a section dedicated to journalists who lost their lives while covering the news and featured some of their personal belongings like Veronica Guerin's pen and Daniel Pearl's typewriter. Hitting extremely close to home, was this sign from Bosnia, destroyed during their war with Serbia not very long ago.

When I am reminded of the amazing contributions reporters make internationally and on a local level in shaping history, inspiring social change and serving as governmental watchdogs, it makes me never want to leave the news industry.