Politics and Religion: The Newseum Closes Betwixt State and Market Threats to the Public Sphere

Today, I am launching a section of my blog related to "politics and religion." Many of my colleagues in academia will likely warn me against "getting too political" or "showing bias" in a blog about Politics and Religion. Some would quietly agree with my opinions, but urge caution. While I respect their reasons for choosing silence, I believe that these opinions are misguided and dangerous to our democracy, which is why I am creating this space as a public space to share my views. All opinions are my own.

I decided to create this space to reflect on my recent visit to the Newseum in Washington, DC this past Friday (https://www.newseum.org/). As I write this reflection today, the Newseum staff are preparing to open their doors for the last time.

For folks who do not know, the Newseum was founded in 2000 in Arlington, VA by the Freedom Forum and led by Al Neuharth who founded USA Today. In 2002, the Newseum moved to its current location on Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House. The mission is "to increase public understanding of the importance of a free press and the First Amendment."

There was something surreal about visiting a museum exhibit that is dedicated to the first amendment rights at a time that these rights are being threatened in the United States like never before by both the market and the state.

Today the newspaper press industry is struggling to exist in the contemporary capitalist business model where "free" if not always reliable information on the internet provides direct competition for the professional journalists. Meanwhile television news is fractured into a micro-segmentation of markets whose commitments to "facts" much less "truth" have too often come to depend upon the particular market demands and the producers ability to monetize its product (the audience) for its customers (the advertisers). No I did not get this backwards - television news is just a gimmick to sell eye balls to commercial advertisers. While there are some good people in that business, that is the nature of the business. Meanwhile, social media has re-shaped the landscape of the industry into to something that would be unrecognizable to our parents. One result of this fractured and competitive media industry has been the consolidation of news outlets into a smaller group of large corporate owners.

In addition to the threats to journalism from the marketplace, in recent years, the government has sought to limit the freedom of the press. When the President of the United States declares the press to be the "enemy of the people" there is something reminiscent of totalitarian dictators who want to shut down all but the state sponsored messages that will advance their power and control. Many others have commented how problematic it is that the President uses this tone and language to vent his rage against public critics. In particular, in August 2018, The Boston Globe led a coalition of over 400 news outlets across the country in writing independent editorials that shared the common message that journalists are "Not the Enemy of the People." (https://apps.bostonglobe.com/opinion/graphics/2018/08/freepress/)

Threats to the free press can be seen in attacks on journalists around the world. For a review of some of these incidents, you can check out the Press Freedom Tracker that is maintained the Freedom of the Press Foundation and supported by a coalition of media organizations (See https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/). The stories of repressing the news from getting out extends beyond White House name calling and includes acts of physical violence, stealing or damaging property and equipment of journalists, and attempts at censorship (See for example the order to "cease and desist" by a lawyer for the Governor of Indiana.) In the Newseum on Friday, my wife and I paused to read the long list of names of journalists who have been killed around the world for doing their job.

The social theorist Jurgen Habermas developed a concept of the 'public sphere.' Habermas was concerned about communicative actions that organize societies. For him, the public sphere was the space between the private "life world" in which we express our private sentiments with families and friends on the one hand, and the controlling systems of power within the market and state. In an open society, it is the free press that embodies the notion of the public sphere, which in itself if a necessity for a flourishing democratic society.

So it is in this precarious point, betwixt the market and the state, that the Newseum finds itself closing. Neither the state nor the market provide adequate means to maintain this museum's operations. I spoke with an employee at the Newseum who will be looking for work tomorrow. Today, as every day, he and his colleagues will be cleaning the glass on the the exhibits, welcoming visitors and keeping order in the long lines that no doubt will have formed for people wanting a last look at the incredible institution. Tomorrow, I presume that the work to dismantle the Newseum exhibits will begin. This will include the physical process of removing valuable artifacts of history such as the three-story high piece of twisted steel from the World Trade Center that is on display, as well as the multi-ton piece of the Berlin Wall (see photo below). The physical process, may be the easiest task to accomplish.

Not long ago, I had lunch with a colleague (Todd) in the public humanities and arts Master in Public Administration program at the University of Massachusetts Lowell (which I direct). He was the former Executive Director of a much smaller museum that had to close last year. The process of inventorying and dissembling a museum is not an easy one. He told me how in other museums he had heard stories of employees walking home with displayed items on the last day or, of bequeathed and donated gifts being just "thrown away." Properly closing a museum takes time, patience and attention including legal, financial and logistical planning. There are many management challenges and pitfalls related to closing the museum, but also there is an emotional process. Todd tole me, "There is a grieving process that you need to go through as you close a museum."

Not long ago, I had lunch with a colleague (Todd) in the public humanities and arts Master in Public Administration program at the University of Massachusetts Lowell (which I direct). He was the former Executive Director of a much smaller museum that had to close last year. The process of inventorying and dissembling a museum is not an easy one. He told me how in other museums he had heard stories of employees walking home with displayed items on the last day or, of bequeathed and donated gifts being just "thrown away." Properly closing a museum takes time, patience and attention including legal, financial and logistical planning. There are many management challenges and pitfalls related to closing the museum, but also there is an emotional process. Todd tole me, "There is a grieving process that you need to go through as you close a museum."

I for one am glad that I had the chance to say 'goodbye' to this amazing institution.