The demise of the Newseum in Washington, D.C., is a lesson in economics.
With adult admission costing $25, the ode to journalism and the human desire for freedom of expression were unable to compete with the numerous free museums in the heart of the nation’s capital. It is difficult to lure paying customers for a history lesson when priceless artwork or slices of Americana can be viewed for free down the street.
The Newseum, a privately owned endeavor that opened in Northern Virginia in 1997 and moved to a sparkling building near the National Mall in 2008, closed its doors this week. And while we cannot deny the economic realities that contributed to that demise, we do lament the closing of a museum that paid tribute to one of the foundations of American democracy.
Admittedly, we have a particular interest in the issue. As purveyors of a free press and firm believers in its importance, we support anything that promotes that aspect of the First Amendment — particularly when the press is facing increasing scorn. In addition, the name of Columbian photographer Reid Blackburn, who was killed in the 1980 Mount St. Helens explosion while on assignment, was included in a tribute to journalists who have died while working.
As Patty Rhule, vice president of content and exhibits at the Newseum, told The Columbian: “Part of the mission is to explain the important role that free press plays in our democracy. The press is increasingly under attack — economically because of digital (competition) and, also powerful people around the world are calling out journalists as fake news.
“We think it’s important to acknowledge what journalists face when going out into the world when reporting. Sometimes they pay the ultimate sacrifice. Not just reporters in war zones but also those who are singled out and killed.”
In addition, we must mention that the Newseum’s display of Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs through the decades ranked among the most powerful exhibits in all of Washington, D.C. Collectively, the photographs served an extraordinary depiction of the human condition and the human spirit.
But while the Newseum is closing its doors, the American commitment to free expression must remain sacrosanct. That is particularly important in the era of a president who rejects any negative reporting as “fake news.” As Chris Wallace of Fox News said recently, the Trump administration “is engaged in the most direct, sustained assault on freedom of the press in our history.”
Wallace is an outlier at Fox — a professional unlikely to mistake news for propaganda. And for Trump supporters who believe the network is fair and balanced, we remind that several Fox personalities have appeared at Trump rallies in support of the president — a violation of basic journalistic tenets.
But rather than get into a lengthy debate about the integrity of one cable network or another, we instead shall focus on the importance of a free press to our unique system of democracy. As Thomas Jefferson once wrote: “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”
Which is a reminder of the appropriate eulogy for the Newseum. Because while patrons are no longer able to celebrate the power of journalism by visiting a museum in Washington, D.C., they retain that ability through their local newspaper.
