What's New at The Newseum?

Today, we headed into DC to check out The Newseum, which the website Trip Advisor is heralding as DC's Number 1 attraction.

As a 10-veteran of newspapers, the relatively new Newseum, which we last visited 2 years ago, rivals The Smithsonian's Museum of History for my favorite DC spot.  I would never tire of returning to this place (and now I can come back again and again thanks to a 2-for-one Groupon Press Membership which allows unlimited museum access for 1 year) but obviously I like the exhibits I haven't seen the best.

An actual warning from post-Katrina New Orleans home.

Two were especially impressive.  The first was a reconstruction of Tim Russet's Meet The Press office. There is no question that Russet was a special newsman and a special person.

But the most riveting exhibit on this visit was contained in the series of rooms devoted to the destructive, heart-rending story of Hurricane Katrina as told through the words of the reporters who reported it and the cameramen who captured it in both still and moving pictures.

Ironically, as were finishing the hours spent at the Newseum, word of the Casey Anthony verdict broke and we joined dozens of other visitors to watch the surprising (many would say shocking) story unfold on the facility's incredibly large screen. Now, with the advent of the internet (witness this personal blog you are reading) and the rising costs of print, no one really knows what the next chapter will be in the story of newspapers. But I do know this - whether it is the natural destruction of a force like Katrina or the sorrowful human tragedy of tiny Kaylee Anthony - there will always be powerful news and there will always be a need to both report and digest it.