Newseum

Reviews 6

JA

Jay-Anne Casuga

I visited the Newseum today with some out-of-town guests and had a rude experience with the employee scanning tickets from visitors. After going through the metal detector and getting my bag searched, I must have followed the wrong line or walked through the wrong barrier because I inadvertently bypassed the ticket purchase line. I walked to the closest employee, the man scanning tickets, and asked him where I needed to go to obtain tickets. Instead of directing me to the ticket counter, which was right behind us might I add, he rudely accused me of not going through the metal detector. When I explained to him that I had already gone through security, he refused to believe me and insisted that I couldnt possibly be where I was if I hadnt bypassed security -- even though there were clear gaps in the line barriers. After a few minutes of arguing with me, he finally pointed to the cashiers. I obtained my tickets and passed them along to my friends, who were on the opposite side of the line barrier. We came across the same ticket scanner. He accepted my friends tickets without comment, but when I approached him, he rudely told me I was in the wrong line and said "there were signs" to direct me to the right line. He had said nothing to my three friends in front of me, and yet felt the need to "correct" me. When I voiced my objection to his rudeness, he accused *me* of being rude and told me that I "needed to leave." I went to the Newseum today to have a good time with my guests, and this security employee/ticket collector nearly ruined the experience. I have never met someone so condescending and rude to a visitor/customer. His behavior makes me never want to visit the museum again or to bring guests there. This person worked for AlliedBarton, the private security contractor at the museum. And if this is the type of service they provide, I would respectfully suggest that the Newseum consider a different contractor.

---

AN

Antonio Tortora

Penso che visitando questo luogo emblematico ci si possa rendere conto, senza ombra di dubbio, che se non fosse stato per latttività di decine di migliaia di giornalisti in tutto il mondo, oggi nessuno di noi potrebbe essere qui a testimoniare che, nonostante tutto, la libertà esiste ma va conquistata giorno per giorno. Talvolta si dà per scontato che la libertà sia un diritto inalienabile e inviolabile ma solo quando si scorrono i nomi dei 2084 giornalisti elencati nel JOURNALIST MEMORIAL di Washington, DC e che hanno dato la vita, facendosi ammazzare per la libertà di parola e di informazione in circa due secoli di storia, ci si rende conto che non bisogna abbassare la guardia e che bisogna essere grati, in eterno, ai professionisti dellinformazione veri watchdog (cani da guardia) del potere stando alla definizione del giornalista investigativo argentino Horacio Verbitsky. Antonio Tortora Journalist - Naples (Italy)

---

JO

John Hutchinson

There are three fundamental problems with the exhibits in the Newseum: (1) They conflate the heroism of the people in the news with the heroism of the people covering the news. The entire section on the Civil Rights Movement is outstanding, but it says nothing about the history of journalism. Many other exhibits are just silly and unrelated to journalism in any way, e.g. "first dogs." The Edward R. Murrow exhibit is by far the best exhibit for relating a true history of journalism. (2) The documentary on "bias in journalism" is itself extraordinarily biased! It presents as an uncontested fact that there is a liberal bias in the media. Brian Williams is quoted as setting up a straw man argument with a fabricated story about a journalist referring differently in language about Gingrich and Kennedy. Bret Hume "proves" that the news media is liberal by contending that most reporters are liberal. But this says nothing about whether their reporting is biased. And this comes from one of the most biased "reporters" on television. News Corps fingerprints are all over this travesty of an "exhibit." (3) Many exhibits fail to distinguish between real news coverage and the tendency of some reporters to simply accept unvarnished propaganda. The most obvious example of this is the prominent display of the toppling of Husseins statue in Baghdad, a clearly stage media event and not an actual news event. Amazingly poor presentation for a "news museum."

---

AM

Amber Haldis

Loved it. Went for Free Museum Day 2014 and was excited when I saw it opened at 9am! so I could get my day started early. Good thing too, but I didnt get out until almost 2! There are six very interactive floors, 4D movie and several movies theaters throughout. You can even stand in and perform a news cast on green screen with prompt reader and everything. Plus, any museum that idolizes Ron Burgundy is perfection. Neighborhood is great and its easy to find. Theres a cafe on the lowest floor, which looked to be pretty crowded around lunch time, but as we were walking on the third floor (I think) theres a patio off a small lunch room with small kiosk with sandwiches. I dont think anyone realized it was open to the public because the flyer said catered lunch, and maybe it was a weekend deal, but it was perfection to sit alone on the patio instead of in a crowded lunchroom. So keep an eye out for it. Nice balcony on the 6th floor too with a great view. And thats where they post front pages from newspapers all over the country and world DAILY! Thats dedication to news. With regular tickets for adults around $25, getting the Free Museum Day voucher was a steal. Also all tickets are also good for the following day, so come back if its too long to fit in one day, or pass them along to a friend. There is a coat check if needed and there is security. Food and souvenir prices as expected for a museum.

---

A

A Private User

My family hits many museums while traveling. I was recently told to see the new Newseum. Well, I guess she never saw the old one in Rosslyn. The fee is steep for what you get there. It is a massive space with exhibits huddled on each end and delivers a stifling review in an otherwise large space. Travel from floor to floor varies with a changing layout and its not intuitive. Seems the design was to simply slow you down on a busy tourist day. I wondered while there what a news story it will be when a fire alarm wakes the building engineer up one day. The use of the space is poor and the old Newseum was far better experience. There is an overwhelming self-inflated mentality in the exhibits therein which place unbelievable honor on the news people who feel they saved much of the world by reporting stories that solved police cases, etc. Of course there is no Pulitzer Prize department in the museum. Your active memory of the stories you witnessed will likely cause you to question the facts offered in other exhibits. It is a different type of attraction but DC offers many finer places of interest. I suspect the exhibits will improve but they will always have to deal with the poor layout design of the building. When blame is eventually cast, rest assured, it will not be the fault of the news industry.

---

MA

Matt Raab

Disappointed. Its supposedly a museum about fair press coverage, but its so blatantly biased. The view from the roof is amazing, though. Great for pictures. Anyway, back to bias: I noticed that there were passive omissions of Israel in coverage of terrorist attacks, but what was just gross was the decision to use the Time Magazine cover whose focus was the 2000 Ramallah lynching during which two Israeli soldiers were literally ripped limb from limb by a Palestinian mob at a PA police station, and then members of the mob held out their hands that were covered in the blood of these soldiers to boast what theyd just done. But instead of addressing that, the Newseum just.. doesnt. Instead they only focus on the bombing of the USS Cole (its there, but its mostly hidden by the magazines name). But its not like they had run out of space! So why did the Newseum choose a magazine cover with a small picture of the USS Cole and a huge picture of the murder of Israeli soldiers if not as a direct snub? Museums generally have perspectives and biases, and thats fine. I dont mind that. But to lie about being free of that in a museum thats about news specifically is unconscionable. If youre there anyway, though, do not miss going to the roof. Great view. Dont miss that.

---

---

Other organizations