A friend sent me the link to the Newseum in Washington DC. It is a huge museum about 500 years of news history, with very modern technology to let the visitors experience how and why news is made. Since news shape very much the way we perceive the world – and this is being constructed – it is a very timely initiative.
Most of us won’t go there, but they have a fascinating map of about 800 “Today’s Front Pages” (yesterday, Saturday, July 30, 2011 they had 785 front pages from 81 countries.) where you can just put your mouse on a city, almost anywhere in the world, and the newspaper headlines of the day pop up… Double click and the page gets larger…you can read the entire paper on some if you click on the right place. This site changes every day with the publication of new editions of the paper.
On their site they say: “The front pages are in their original, unedited form, and some may contain material that is deemed objectionable to some visitors. Discretion is advised.”
You have also a section of a number of European papers. So when you want to have a quick overview of what the world is talking about…
There are also a lot of exhibitions, about such “important” topics like: “First Dogs: Presidential Pets in the White House” (images of dogs belonging to 23 presidents, including the newest addition: Bo, a six-month-old Portuguese water dog), “Pictures of the Year” and “The President’s Photographer: Fifty Years Inside the Oval Office“.
The Newseum, Washington DC, Photo: James P. Blair/Newseum
