Visit to Newseum

The Newseum is a state-of-the-art news and journalism museum, situated on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC. During my earlier visits to the US capital, I had been keen to tour this contemporary interactive facility, but had been deprived of the opportunity since it was being relocated and under renovation since 2002. It was reopened for public viewing in April 2008 with great fanfare, and I finally got my chance to visit it last week. The 643,000-square-foot Newseum includes a 90-foot-high atrium, seven levels of displays, 15 theatres, a dozen major galleries, many more smaller exhibits, two broadcast studios, and an expanded interactive newsroom. It is recommended that one visit to the orientation theatres located at the concourse level to commence the visit in an organised and orderly manner. Glass express elevators take the visitor to the top level to obtain a breathtaking view of the US Capitol, as well as read "Today's Front Pages" and early news from more than 80 newspapers around the world. Descending to the 5th level, one can sight the Big Screen Theatre, a 100-foot long video wall screening documentaries and breaking news. The same level houses the "Great Books Gallery" comprising influential works on freedom including the Magna Carta, John Milton's "Areopagitica" and the US constitution. Level 5 also affords the visitor the unique "News History Gallery", the Newseum's largest gallery displaying a collection of historic newspaper front pages that spans from 1545 to today.