A fantastic trip to the Newseum in Washington, DC
January 27, 2010 at 10:20pm EST
First trip to museum about the field of news and media
Newseum Ticket for The Weather Warrior's Tour on January 27, 2010
I took a trip today in to downtown Washington, DC to the Newseum right on Pennsylvania Avenue, within a long stones throw on the US Capitol building. Unfortunately I had limited time during my visit (the group’s bus was 45 minutes late picking us up) having on a few hours to visit the museum of the news and media industry. There is a good chance I will return tomorrow.
During my visit, I kept in mind my interests on the weather side, but also what the greater reality of what the industry is really about. It actually seems that I do in fact need to dig deeper into the industry if I plan to have any real serious participation in it. Some of the ideas that I had were sometimes right, but a big part I learned during this visit is the dedication that so many have put into the media business and relaying the news. There is a deep history much of what we know today having roots back to the 1500s. While we are seeing (and trying to participate in) a revolutionary change in the way news is transmitted to the people we may also be changing ‘news’ itself. I myself can even be an example of this as the term ‘citizen reporter’.
There were a number of moving pieces that even had me choked up at times. The news coverage of September 11, 2001 was one of the important and emotional ones being so recent in our memory. But there were many others that included World War II and Vietnam coverage. There were small events that sometimes were tragic, but also the triumphs and celebrations.
One thing that was fairly absent, likely more noticeable by the fact it is my focus, is the news of weather. While not so extreme in its daily affects, weather news at its extremes can be some of the hardest to cover, the hardest to obtain, and just as deadly as war and conflict. However, there are often times of triumph too, something I know I too need to focus on, and that is the triumph over tragedy such as when a town rebuilds, or a rescuers save a life.
After tomorrow, I’ll spend more time talking about specific topics, especially that of the new media avenues like twitter, blogs, and more. I also want to talk more about weather media side of things, how to recognize it, how to improve it, and how to bring it to the audience in better, clearer form.