Newseum opens

Updated re Bloomberg piece
Washington's glittering $450 million Newseum has been the news story of the week, leading up to today's grand opening.

The block party on Pennsylvania Ave. kicks off at 7 a.m. and events are planned throughout the day and well into the night. There will be Canadian content, in addition to the display of front pages from Canadian newspapers.

The 2 p.m. Newseum dedication ceremony guests will include Newseum founder Al Neuharth, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., chairman of the New York Times, Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corporation, and for Canadian content, Michael Wilson, Canadian ambassador to the United States.

Today's Bloomberg.com piece by Karen Leigh compares media tools of the trade being used when the first Newseum in Arlington, Virginia, closed in 2002 and today's methods.

"When the Newseum was last open to the public in 2002, a prominent feature was Walter Cronkite's hulking TV camera," says Leigh. "Today, when the journalism museum reopens in Washington, a spotlight will be on Jamal Albarghouti's phone.

"Albarghouti used his mobile phone's camera to record video during last year's massacre at Virginia Tech University. The graduate student e-mailed his footage to CNN, bringing the news to the nation before the networks got anywhere near the scene."

Meanwhile, headline writers have had a field day this week:

The New York Times - Get Me Rewrite: A New Monument to Press Freedom

The Washington Post - Read All About It: Visitor-Friendly Tips for Navigating the Newseum

Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: Museum Fit for Print

Baltimore Sun: All the News Fit for a Museum

Express.com: News You Can Peruse: Newseum

The first Newseum in Arlington, Virginia, opened on April 18, 1997, and closed in 2002 after the new building project was announced.

Newseum's online front pages were first posted in September of 2001. The daily online version of "Today's Front Pages" began in August 2002.

To clarify content of previous TSF posts regarding Newseum's front page submissions for online display and at the museum, TSF contacted Kate Kennedy, Newseum's Front Pages editor.

"We invite general-interest, daily newspapers from around the world to participate in the gallery," says Kennedy. "Every front page that is sent to us is included in the online exhibit.

"The exhibit is accompanied by a weekday 'closer look' or analysis of the front pages.

"The Newseum receives more than 575 front pages each day. Today, we have more than 600 from 60 countries in six continents. From the 600, we select 80 front pages for a gallery on the sixth floor of the Newseum. Each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia is represented.

"The gallery also includes three national newspapers (USA Today, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal) and about two dozen international papers.

"Front pages (for the gallery) are chosen for their geographic diversity. We also include front pages from among the top 20 papers in circulation size. We try to include tabs as well as broadsheets. We represent big-city journalism as well as community journalism.

"I find the international newspapers especially fascinating from a design standpoint.

"In addition to the inside gallery, we also display up to 64 front pages in cases outside the building along Pennsylvania Avenue. Some front pages appear in both the inside and outside galleries, although visitors might find a few different front pages."