As you can tell by the corny title, today we travelled to the Newseum in Washington, D.C. Although I have been to the Newseum multiple times before, each time I am as fascinated as I was the first time I visited this particular museum. Every visit is unique, with new galleries and new pieces of news history.
The Newseum is full of priceless history from broadcast journalism to print journalism to student activism and everything in between. Its coverage is extensive to say the least, and as an aspiring journalist I could spend hours trying to take in all of the information provided.
Some of the Newseum’s exhibits include a large portion of the Berlin Wall as well as a guard tower. The sheer magnitude, both literally and symbolically, are staggering.
The 9/11 exhibit, as you can guess, is extremely powerful. On a wall that towers over the visitors are the front pages of newspapers from around the world the day after 9/11. In the center is a piece of unrecognizable mangled metal that stood on top of the World Trade Center. The simplistic and clean exhibit combined with the 15 minute video in a small theater are somber and, at times, difficult to take in.
Other powerful exhibits include the Hurricane Katrina exhibit and the Pulitizer Prize winning photograph room. I have visited this room every time I visit the museum, and every time it is my favorite exhibit. It never gets old, and the powerful images never cease to leave me speechless and in awe, both due to quality of the picture and the stories they tell.
In addition to our visit to the Newseum, we ended the day with lectures from multiple journalists and professors in specific fields that we chose. I chose to hear from Stephen Farnsworth, a professor who has researched Presidential coverage in the media. The lecture was personable and got us involved in a group discussion about politics in today’s world, and the civility that seems to be lacking.
The second speaker was Michael Shear, a reporter for the New York Times. During his time at the Washington Post, Shear made the front page the day after President Obama was elected; a front page that will forever be a part of history. He detailed his experiences in the journalism world, and opened up to a question and answer session that was extremely informative.
Both speakers lectures were extremely eye-opening and entertaining, giving us a look into the professional world of journalism.
