Among the many offenses that modern architecture has committed against Pennsylvania Avenue in downtown Washington—America’s main street, we like to call it—is a glass ‘n’ stone ‘n’ steel box that houses a museum about news gathering called, unfortunately, the Newseum. Funded by the New York Times, Hearst, ABC News, Comcast, CBS News, Time Warner, and every worthy journalism nonprofit in the land, the Newseum is the establishment press’s monument to itself—a mirror into which every mainstream reporter and editor can peer with an admiring gaze.
From the front of the building hangs a five-story-high sheet of marble inscribed with the First Amendment, in letters that are easily as tall as an early hominid. You can’t miss it. You’re not supposed to miss it. The display reflects the premise of the museum: that the “free press” mentioned in and protected by the Constitution is identical to the kind of corporate entities that paid for the museum.
