The Newseum

While I was in Washington, D.C., this past weekend, my parents and I decided to visit the Newseum, which is a museum all about free expression in the media. I was reluctant to go to this museum because I didn’t think the content of it would be interesting. I knew I was wrong the minute I walked in the door when I saw the gallery for Pulitzer Prize winners in photography since the creation of the award. That room was my personal favorite of the museum, but it is not the topic of this blog. This museum held content from an assortment of mediums involving events such as the Berlin Wall, the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the Civil Rights movement. The museum displayed the development of the impact that the media has had on major world events and how it impacts the public view. The most recent additions to the museum included special areas specifically talking about social media and the contribution it has made to the news. When we think about social media, we usually think about using it for personal or business reasons, not necessarily for current issues. The fact of the matter is social media is now the primary way most Americans get their information about news. Even though most people think the media’s time is now, the influence of media started way before social media came around.

In the Civil Rights exhibit, one of the largest quotes displayed came from Civil Rights leader John Lewis who said, “Without the media, the Civil Rights Movement would have been a bird without wings”. I think this particular quote is exactly what social media is all about, despite what most people think. The media provides people with factual information so they are properly informed about the issues on hand. The Civil Rights Movement thrived on the media coverage, even if the

majority of it was negative. Gaining a mass following, as the Civil Rights leaders did, by causing a stir in the media, not worrying about the outcome, is the proper way to use media to your advantage.  This has been the case since the Boston Tea Party and the writing of the Declaration of Independence, when news was printed on large wooden contraptions like the one in the picture. The only difference in the way media is shared from then to now is the mediums used. We have moved from newspapers to television news and now we are moving to sharing it on social media. One of the largest events to occur on social media was the usage of social networking sites by protesters during Arab Spring. People started to see the benefit of sharing current issues online and used the mediums to get headlines in the news. This is the way social media should be used; giving people a platform to share news in a faster and more convenient way than ever before.

Sometimes this news is some that should not have to be shared, but sadly with the rise of terrorist attacks, it has become important to learn how to properly get tragic information out to people. One of the exhibits was dedicated to this by displaying the media’s involvement after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

To this day, this is still one of the largest examples of the media using all mediums to get information out to people. In order to show this, the radio antennae from the top of one of the towers is displayed on a background of the dozens of newspaper headlines after the attacks. This event set the precedent for how news organizations should proceed when sharing news and although social media was not around then, these events are now being shard immediately on these platforms. Terrorist attacks and school shootings are the most prevalent issues on social media right now, and the development of this began with the attacks on September 11, 2001. People think that since the way news is given out is changing, news platforms are going down. Although their television viewings may be going down, these news reporters are now more important than ever in order to get the facts of the issues. From this museum, I learned news shared on social media platforms must learn from the events of the past in order to give the proper coverage. Social media is now prevalent in everyday life for sharing current events and needs to be properly used in order to make the largest impact.

There is so much more I could say about the Newseum, which I will be in future blogs. Some of the main issues I will be talking about is the development of fake news and freedom of speech on social media. This museum provided me with a new perspective about social media and the way news has developed on the platforms. Although social media has only been around for a little more than a decade, the premise of it has been around for decades before this, just on different mediums in different ways. Seeing the history of the internet and social media unfold before my eyes showed me the impact it has on our world and the way it will change in the future.