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The Newseum, a 250,000-square-foot museum of news, in Washington on Wednesday Feb. 6, 2008. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Andrew Zajac
Yet another museum opens in Washington this week, this one the second edition of the Newseum journalism museum which outgrew earlier quarters in northern Virginia and found a lavish new home on Constitution Avenue next to the Canadian Embassy.
Considering the grave ailments afflicting journalism, especially newspapers, the sheer scale, splendor and cost of the Newseum -- it's a $439 million glass and steel behemoth -- might leave some observers wondering if it's offering the modern equivalent of a wonderful concert on the deck of the Titanic.
The driving force behind Newseum is Al Neuharth, the former CEO of Gannett Co., who as much as anyone got Wall Street used to the idea that newspapers can and should regularly produce 20 to 30 percent profit margins.
Yoked to those kind of earnings expectations, publicly traded newspaper chains, including Tribune Co., had little room to maneuver when the Internet achieved commercial viability and began leeching away revenues.
It's no accident that the newspaper operations that seem best positioned to figure out the Web are privately held or, if publicly traded, controlled by families, like The New York Times.
It remains to be seen how going private will serve the Tribune, since it faces huge debt obligations at a time of cratering revenues.
Here's a sneak peak of the Newseum from Sunday's Washington Post:
Comments
Why should we feel sorry for the driveby media when they have a secular and socialist agenda. They are practically united in electing B Hussein Obama. When I went to Medill School of Journalism I was taught to report objectively.
Leaving all opinion to the editorial page was what we were told.
That was then this new slant everything journalism should go.People can't trust journalists the way they could in the 50's and 60's.
So surprise, surprise revenues are falling. Jerry White, Springfield, IL
Posted by: Jerry White | April 7, 2008 9:13 AM
C-SPAN is there right now going through it. They even have the door with the tape on it from the Watergate break-in. It looks interesting to me. I hope I get there.
Posted by: lochnessmonster | April 7, 2008 9:39 AM
Jerry, you went to Medill? Are you as disgusted as I am about the goings on with the dean there these days?
Sorry Zajac, but this statement is complete and utter BS: "publicly traded newspaper chains, including Tribune Co., had little room to maneuver when the Internet achieved commercial viability and began leeching away revenues."
The truth is people like Al Neuharth were charging ridiculous rates for classified ads for nearly a decade (how do you think he delievered those 30% profits?) when places like eBay came to the market. They had plenty of "room to maneuver" but the people at the top chose to ignore the internet rather than embrace it.
Rather than embrace the new competition and lower rates the newspapers trotted blissfully along as if nothing had happened. That's when eBay and the rest started to poach Tribune and other newspaper companies earnings.
How ineffective was the newspaper industry's response? There are very few worse examples of attempting to adapt an antiquated business model to the internet age. The RIAA comes to mind, but they're only barely worse than Tribune, Gannett and the like. The built-in arrogance of newspaper companies essentially meant they not only didn't respect eBay and Craigslist as competition but thought the internet would simply go away like some sort of fad.
Customers, on the other hand, were more than ready for an alternative because of the "leeching" high prices that newspaper companies had been charging them for years for help wanted, used car, and housing advertising. There was bitterness in the customer base over the price of classifieds and they were more than willing to go somewhere else.
Classified Ventures was created - way too late - by Tribune, Gannett and other media companies to finally try to stanch the bleeding of their jobs, cars, and housing ads that found a much more hospitable, and cheaper, environment online than in their old print advertisers.
It's been a mild success with sites like careerbuilder but, again, why did the newspaper industry only start CV in the early 2000s? Monster.com, autotrader.com and other websites were serving former print customers better for years before the newspaper industry finally stopped its arrogance and agreed to play online.
As a reporter, myself, I have a VERY difficult time feeling sorry for our industry. We're reaping what we've sown. The years of arrogant "we're the only game in town so you'd better get used to it" business practices have led us to where we are today and unless the newspaper industry fully embraces new editorial and advertising delivery options like mobile internet a LOT faster than they did the web itself then our entire industry will be in a museum. I see no evidence that the people at the top grasp this simple concept.
p.s. I liked the Newseum in Rosslyn and I'll definitely visit the new one. It sounds cool.
Posted by: Jefff | April 7, 2008 1:00 PM
"DAVID SAFAVARIAN 107TH & 108TH CONGRESS REPUBLCANS SPEAK"
I TRIED BUT I COULDN'T DO IT I TRIED BUT THEY WOULD'NT DO IT, WE TRIED BUT WE COULDN'T DO IT"
DAMN PBS
DAMN CSPAN 1
DAMN CSPAN 2
DAMN CSPAN 3
DAMN CSPAN 4
"BAN PHOTOGRAPHING RETURN OF COFFINS OF SLAIN AMERICAN SOLDIERS!
"PAT TILMAN" WAS A MYTH"
"BUSH PIONEER" WAS A MYTH.
WE TRIED BUT WE COULDN'T DO IT WE TRIED BUT WE COULDN'T "SILENCE AMERICA" "SILENCE, SILENCE, SILENCE, THE MINORITY, THE BLIND, THE ELDERLY, THE BLACK, WHITE, 40, 50, 60 YEAR OLD VOICE IN AMERICA.
BUT WE TRIED, AND WE COULDN'T DO IT!
Posted by: ROGER MORRIS | April 7, 2008 2:47 PM
"JERRY WHITE OBJECTIVITY SPEAKS"
I OBJECT
I OBJECT
I OBJECT TO FREE AND OPEN JOURNALISM.
I OBJECT
I OBJECT
I OBJECT TO "FAIR AND BALANCE MEDIAS"
I OBJECT
I OBJECT
I OBJECT TO "CSPAN"
I OBJECT
I OBJECT
I OBJECT TO "REALITY"
I OBJECT TO "PHOTOGRAPHY" AS BEING PROOF OF VISION, CLARITY AND THE TRUTH!
I SUFFER FROM THE "WILLINGNESS SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF" BECAUSE IT IS WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT IS IS REALITY BUT YET OBJECTIONABLE BY TEACHING!
SO, THERE WERE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION BUT OBJECTIONABLE BECAUSE IT WAS WHAT IT WAS AND WHAT IT WAS, IS WHAT IT WAS! OBJECTIONABLE BY TEACHING!
A WHOLE LOT OF PEOPLE GRADUATED FROM THAT SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM!
JUST NOT ME!!
Posted by: rOGER mORRIS | April 7, 2008 3:17 PM