I listen to NPR and read the Washington Post and the New York Times; I like to know the news. But the Newseum never appealed to me. It seemed less like a delightful afternoon and more like an idea born because, well, a museum of news had to be created just to use the name “newseum.” And I was rankled by the price.
When you live near Washington, D.C., you get used to going to the world’s most fascinating exhibits for free. You can stroll through the sculpture garden at the Hirshhorn, gaze at Impressionist masterpieces at I.M. Pei’s famous East Building, and ogle Dorothy’s ruby slippers at the Museum of American History, all at no cost.
Spoiled by this bounty, I couldn’t imagine paying $21.95 to enter the Newseum. “Are you kidding?” my stingy side asked. “So much money to visit a museum of news?”
It wasn’t until Groupon offered $10 admission tickets when I summoned the spirit to go. I talked my friend Laura into joining me. And in we went, feeling dutiful.
Inside the seven-story, 250,000 square-foot space we found pairings of news and history. Artifacts from major historical events, like panels from the Berlin Wall and the mangled antenna from the top of the World Trade Center, are displayed next to relevant news reports.
Around the WTC wreckage: a wall of framed front pages illustrated with appropriately garish color photographs and 72-point type both echoing and shaping the world’s reaction to the terrorist attacks on 9/11.
Near the Berlin Wall panels, we stood in the shadow of a Checkpoint Charlie watchtower, captivated by grainy black and white images of NBC News’s footage of East Germans crawling through tunnels to freedom in the West.
You can also follow the news about Hurricane Katrina as it unfolded—from the initial weather warnings to the still unbelievable images of acres of strewn splinters that were once houses in Mississippi and of people desperate for rescue from their rooftops in the Ninth Ward.
In the three hours Laura and I carved out for the Newseum, we visited about one half of the exhibits. Entry tickets allow re-entry the following day—sadly, not an option for either of us. I left reluctantly, realizing that I’d happily spend the money to come again and feeling much more thoughtful about the meaning of "free."
