Newseum facts for kids

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Newseum

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Established	April 18, 1997
Dissolved	December 31, 2019
Location	555 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, D.C., United States

The Newseum was a fun, interactive museum. It taught people about free speech and the First Amendment. It also showed how communication has changed over time. This big museum was in Washington, D.C.. It had seven floors, 15 theaters, and 15 galleries.

You could see the largest collection of Berlin Wall pieces outside of Germany there. Every day, the museum showed front pages from over 80 newspapers worldwide. You can still see these online! Other parts of the museum covered topics like press freedom, news history, the 9/11 attacks, and how the Internet, TV, and radio developed.

The Newseum first opened in Rosslyn, Virginia, on April 18, 1997. It moved to its last location in Washington, D.C., on April 11, 2008. The museum closed its doors on December 31, 2019. Many exhibits are now in storage or have been returned to their owners. The Newseum is looking for a new home.

More than 815,000 people visited the Newseum each year. Its TV studios were used for news broadcasts. The museum had an admission fee for adults. Over the years, the Newseum faced financial challenges. In 2019, Johns Hopkins University bought the building. The university plans to use the space for its graduate programs.

The Newseum's Story

The original Newseum in Arlington, Virginia.

Aerial view of the Newseum.

Newspaper front pages from around the world were displayed daily.

The Freedom Forum is a non-profit group. It was started in 1991 by Al Neuharth, who founded USA Today. The Freedom Forum opened the first Newseum in Arlington, Virginia, in 1997. Before that, it had smaller exhibits in Nashville and New York City.

In 2000, the Freedom Forum decided to move the museum. They wanted it to be in downtown Washington, D.C.. The original site closed in 2002. This allowed the staff to focus on building the new, bigger museum. The new museum cost about $450 million. It opened to the public on April 11, 2008.

Tim Russert, a Newseum board member, said the new location would make a lasting impression. The Newseum on Pennsylvania Avenue was next to the Canadian Embassy.

Designing the New Building

The Newseum chose a great spot on Pennsylvania Avenue. This was where the old National Hotel used to be. They picked Ralph Appelbaum to design the exhibits. He had designed the first Newseum in Virginia. James Stewart Polshek was chosen as the architect.

The design team had important goals:

To create a building that people would easily recognize.
To make the museum three times bigger. This would allow for over two million visitors a year.
To celebrate the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. This includes freedom of the press and freedom of speech.

The building design was shown in October 2002. It had a huge "window on the world" facing Pennsylvania Avenue. This window was 57 by 78 feet. It let people outside see into the museum. It also let visitors inside see the city. The 45 words of the First Amendment were carved into a stone panel. This panel was four stories tall.

One special part of the museum was the Journalists Memorial. This was a glass sculpture. It listed the names of 2,291 journalists. These journalists had died while doing their job. The memorial was updated and honored every year.

The museum's website still shows newspaper front pages from around the world. These images are updated daily. You can also find an archive of front pages from important events since 2001. Some printed front pages were displayed inside and outside the museum. These included one from every U.S. state.

Inside the Newseum Building

The Newseum building was very large. It had a 90-foot-high atrium, which is a big open space. There were seven levels of displays, 15 theaters, and many galleries. It also had two TV studios and an interactive newsroom. The building featured a large, oval theater with 500 seats.

The building also had offices for the Newseum and Freedom Forum staff. There was a conference center too. It was known for having some of the largest passenger elevators in the world. These elevators could carry up to 72 people. A curving glass memorial honored journalists who had died.

Special systems kept the air just right for the exhibits. This helped protect the old newspapers and artifacts.

ABC's This Week TV show used to broadcast from a studio in the Newseum. This started in 2008. Later, Al Jazeera America used the studio. The building also had a restaurant called The Source. There were also luxury apartments called the Newseum Residences. These apartments had a rooftop terrace. From there, you could see the National Mall, Washington Monument, and the United States Capitol.

What You Could See: Main Exhibits

Pete Souza, a White House photographer, preparing for an interview at the Newseum.

The Unabomber's cabin was on display at the Newseum.

The New York Times Great Hall

This hall was in the main atrium. A huge 90-foot screen showed the latest news headlines. A replica of a satellite and a helicopter were also hanging in this space.

News History Gallery

This gallery showed how newspapers and magazines have changed over time. Touch-screen computers let you look closely at old publications. You could also play interactive games and learn about journalists. Many artifacts from famous news events were on display. These included a 1603 English newspaper and a 1787 copy of the Maryland Gazette with the new U.S. Constitution.

Interactive Newsroom

In this area, visitors could pretend to be a photojournalist, editor, reporter, or anchor. Touch-screen stations offered tools to try out broadcast news. You could even pick up a microphone and stand in front of a camera!

Visitors could share their experiences related to 9/11.

9/11 Gallery

This gallery looked at how news covered the 9/11 attacks. It honored photojournalist Bill Biggart, who died covering the events. Visitors could hear his story and see his last photos. A large wall showed front pages from around the world published the day after 9/11. A piece of the antenna from the World Trade Center was also on display. A film shared stories from reporters and photographers who covered that day.

Internet, TV and Radio Gallery

This gallery showed how news grew as technology improved. Two 25-foot-high screens showed famous TV clips. There was also a timeline of media history and a memorial to Edward R. Murrow.

Pulitzer Prize Photographs Gallery

The Newseum had a huge collection of Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs. It included every winning photo since 1942. A film featured interviews with many of the photographers. This helped explain the stories behind the pictures. Famous photos like Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima were here.

Berlin Wall Gallery

The Newseum had the largest display of the original Berlin Wall outside of Germany. There were eight 12-foot-high concrete sections of the wall. Each piece weighed about three tons. A three-story guard tower from Checkpoint Charlie was also on display.

Exhibit of historic newspapers at the Newseum.

First Amendment Gallery

This gallery explored the First Amendment. It protects five important freedoms: religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition. The exhibit showed historical news clips that demonstrated these freedoms. Thomas Jefferson once said, "Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press."

World News Gallery

This gallery had a large map. It showed how press freedom differed in 190 countries. You could also see international newspaper headlines and TV news. The gallery honored international journalists who risked their lives for their work.

Today's Front Pages Gallery

The Newseum received digital copies of over 700 front pages daily. About 80 of these were printed and displayed. These included one from every U.S. state and Washington, D.C., plus a selection of international papers.

FBI Exhibit

The "Inside Today's FBI" exhibit showed the work of the FBI. It focused on fighting terrorism and cybercrime after 9/11. Artifacts included the Unabomber's cabin. There was also a car used by the 9/11 hijackers.

Daniel Pearl's passport was part of the Journalists Memorial.

Journalists Memorial

This memorial honored journalists who died while doing their jobs. It displayed items from dangerous reporting missions. These included the laptop of Daniel Pearl and the bloodstained notebook of Michael Weisskopf. A glass tablet listed more than 1,800 names of those who died. The gallery also had photos and more information about each journalist.

Hank Greenspun Terrace

The Newseum terrace offered amazing views of Washington, D.C. You could see landmarks like the U.S. Capitol, the National Gallery of Art, and the Washington Monument. The terrace also explained events that happened on Pennsylvania Avenue. These included presidential parades and protests.

The Bancroft Family Ethics Center

In the Ethics Center, computers let visitors discuss tough choices journalists face. You could compare your answers with reporters and other visitors.

Why the Newseum Closed

Even with money from tickets and events, the Newseum lost a lot of money. In 2011, ticket sales only covered 10 percent of its costs. The museum had significant financial problems. This was partly because building the Washington location cost more than expected.

Also, many museums in the National Mall area, like the Smithsonian Institution museums, are free. This made it hard for the Newseum to charge high entry fees. In 2018, The Washington Post reported that the Newseum was thinking about selling its building. The Freedom Forum said it was paying over $20 million a year to keep the museum running.

In January 2019, the Freedom Forum announced it would sell the building to Johns Hopkins University. The museum closed to the public on December 31, 2019. Johns Hopkins University later showed plans to remove the First Amendment words from the front of the building.

Images for kids

The First Amendment panel