The front pages of newspapers from the 50 American states displayed each morning will remain on display for a few days. The solemn words of the first amendment to the United States' constitution guaranteeing press freedom, engraved on the marble facade that overlooks Pennsylvania Avenue in the federal capital, will not be erased overnight. But the doors to the Newseum will close tightly on December 31st with twelve years of information and exhibitions devoted to journalism, freedom of expression and events that have marked world news.
"While the press is constantly under attack by the president, this is not the right time to lose such a place. "Rita Frost, a visitor from North Carolina
While the war opened by US President Donald Trump against journalists has not ended, some see the closure of this temple of free information as a sign of the times; others, the failure of a poorly crafted cultural project. A few days before the deadline, announced at the start of the year by museum officials for financial reasons, Kevin Reese, a Washingtonian "Press freedom activist", came to give "A last tribute to this necessary place and to its powerful message". "This is the place where we realize that the mission of journalism is the quest for the truth and that it is not the enemy of the people", a reference to the insult regularly addressed to journalists by Mr. Trump. "While the press is constantly under attack by the president, this is not the right time to lose such a place," also regrets Rita Frost, a visitor from North Carolina.
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An impressive collection
Located in a luxurious seven-story building built for more than $ 450 million on prestigious Washington Avenue connecting the White House and the Capitol, the Newseum had big plans: permanent exhibitions on press work with the FBI in major US criminal cases ; a retrospective of the media coverage of the September 11 attacks, embodied by objects that belonged to the victims and a vestige of one of the collapsed towers; a documented history of freedom of expression and information sharing techniques; access to the "front pages" of hundreds of foreign newspapers … The impressive collection of Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs alone, contextualized by often poignant interviews with their authors, was worth the visit.
The Newseum prided itself on hosting the "Only part of the Berlin Wall" exhibited outside of Germany, in a hybrid section celebrating the historic event more than its media coverage. He also defended the memory of hundreds of local newspapers published since the creation of the United States, most of which are gradually disappearing. This rich and disparate collection strangely bordered with more disappointing themes such as the exhibition devoted to "dogs of American presidents".
Ten million visitors
This unique set, wanted by its founder, Al Neuharth, the boss of USA Today, attracted 10 million paying visitors (22 euros each), but that was not enough to save the Newseum from bankruptcy. Rare private museum in the American capital, renowned for its free cultural offer along the National Mall, the Newseum had chosen a rather risky economic model in such a context. The president of the museum, Peter Prichard, recognized him in mid-December during a farewell party. “We have underestimated the difficulty of balancing a budget in an environment where competition is free. " Poor management of the museum foundation and the difficulties of the press sector did not favor the generosity of the donors.
Behind the nobility of its official mission – "Improve public understanding of press freedom and the first amendment" -, the Newseum was also a commercial enterprise. An unfortunate event in 2018 highlighted this. Under pressure from the public, the museum shop had to remove t-shirts boasting of "fake news", a term popularized by the American president to denigrate the media critical of his action.
Blurred future
A shame for the Newseum, one of the educational dimensions of which consisted in training entire classes of middle and high school students to find information. "In the name of freedom of expression" and of a tradition applied to all the American presidents, the museum had, however, continued the sale of objects carrying the slogan of Donald Trump, "Make America Great Again". "A free press is essential to our democracy and journalists are not the enemies of the people", had specified the direction of the museum. A useful reminder when, according to the think tank Pew Research Center, 40% of supporters of the president believe that journalists have ethical principles " very low ".
The future of the Newseum and its collections remains unclear. The museum has announced that its activities will continue "In another place" but part of the exhibits will be returned to their owners. The American capital loses a symbolic place which, beyond its weaknesses, had, on occasion, managed to rise to the rank of a world symbol of a bruised press. On the evening of January 7, 2015, a few hours after the assassination of Charlie Hebdo journalists, in Paris, the museum had projected an image of the slogan "I am Charlie" on the giant screen of its atrium. Several days later, several hundred people gathered outside the Newseum to defend freedom of expression fatally attacked by the terrorists.
