After Years of Hemorrhaging Cash, Newseum Set To Close Doors in DC
The mainstream media has been repeatedly warned over the past several years that its nearly wholesale abandonment of journalistic integrity and principles — part of the overarching goal to “get Trump” — would end up causing significant harm to the media as a whole in the long run, but they refused to listen.
Far too many media figures and outlets have thrown out the aforementioned integrity and principles and lived up to the moniker of “fake news.” The ramifications of that unwise and repeated decision has finally begun to catch up with everyone.
Case in point is the recently announced impending closure of Washington D.C.’s Newseum.
The Baltimore Sun reported that the prestigious Johns Hopkins University will purchase the building the Newseum is housed in for $372.5 million to help facilitate the Baltimore-based university’s ongoing efforts to further establish and consolidate a foothold in the nation’s capital city.
The Newseum, located at 555 Pennsylvania Ave. in the NW sector of D.C., was first built in 2008 for $450 million after moving from its original location in Arlington, Virginia.
The media-centric museum is owned by a group known as the Freedom Forum and was intended to help educate the general public on the role a free press plays in our society. However, perhaps because of the dishonest and divisive role the media has played over the past few years, the Newseum has struggled financially to continue operating without losing money.
The Newseum will reportedly remain open until the end of 2019, at which point it will be renovated and join the Johns Hopkins fold as its newest building in the D.C. area.
According to the Freedom Forum, the decision to sell the Newseum came after 16 months of financial review, which ultimately determined that the facility suffered from “unsustainable operating costs.”
Today, the Freedom Forum — the creator and primary funder of the Newseum — announced the sale of the building in which the Newseum is located to Johns Hopkins University.
The Newseum will remain open to the public through 2019. https://t.co/3eyr9TUezs pic.twitter.com/yeDS5kdP6N
— Newseum (@Newseum) January 25, 2019
Though no Freedom Forum officials agreed to be interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, a statement was released to the media by the chair and CEO of the organization, Jan Neuharth.
Neuharth said in the statement, “This was a difficult decision, but it was the responsible one.
“We remain committed to continuing our programs — in a financially sustainable way — to champion the five freedoms of the First Amendment and to increase public awareness about the importance of a free and fair press.”
The Freedom Forum has begun to search for another location in which to rebuild the Newseum, and noted that while they intended to preserve all of the various artifacts and newspapers that had been on display, they also are looking into branching out in the future through digital outreach, online programs and even traveling exhibits.
The purchase of the Newseum building by Johns Hopkins University will be funded in part by the sale of other Hopkins-owned property in the D.C. area, as well as by a financial gift from Hopkins alum and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg — not to mention university funds and other philanthropic donations.
With respect to the planned purchase, Hopkins President Ronald J. Daniels said, “We have wanted to bring all of our activities together into one facility and also have increasingly wanted to be able to bring some of our programs and research activities that are currently in Baltimore and elsewhere to Washington.”
“We are hoping that with this new facility we’ll be able to offer more opportunities for undergraduates to do, for instance, internships and policy-related seminars and other activities in Washington,” Daniels added. “This becomes a wonderful portal for us to bring undergraduate and graduate students who are currently in Baltimore to Washington for relatively discrete periods of time.”
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