VOICE ONE:
This is Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Shirley Griffith with the VOA Special Englishprogram, EXPLORATIONS. Today we tell about a museum that shows howreporters do their jobs.
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VOICE ONE:
When terrorists attacked the United States on September Eleventh,millions of people saw what was happening on television. Reportersgathered near the World Trade Center in New York City and thePentagon building near Washington, D.C. to get information. Thereporters spoke with officials, police, and people who saw theattacks. People around the world followed what was happening throughreports from radio, television, newspapers and magazines.
People depend on reporters to get the facts about the latest newsdevelopments. Yet many people do not understand how a reporterworks. In the United States, there is a center to help peopleunderstand what reporters do and why their job is often difficult.It is called the Newseum. It is in Rosslyn, Virginia, across thePotomac River from Washington, D-C.
VOICE TWO:
The Newseum was opened on April Eighteenth,Nineteen-Ninety-Seven. It is a place where visitors can see andexperience how and why news is made. A private group called FreedomForum provides financial support for the Newseum. Freedom Forum isan organization formed to support free press and free speech for allpeople. Alice Bishop is an official at the Newseum. She says peoplewho visit the Newseum learn about some of the difficulties thatreporters face everyday. They also have fun working with computers,television and pictures.
Miss Bishop says visitors are able to meet with news reporters.The reporters come to the Newseum for special events usually heldeach week. Some are well-known American reporters. Others work forforeign news organizations. They describe their experiences andvisitors are able to ask them questions. Miss Bishop says visitorsunderstand the news process better. They learn what reporters dobefore they prepare their stories for publication or broadcast.
Newseum visitors can also work in a television production center.They can operate a television camera or sit in front of the cameraand read news stories. One day a young visitor read a news story shewrote about the President of the United States appointing her motherto the Supreme Court.
VOICE ONE:
About five-hundred thousand people visit the Newseum every year.Many of them come from different parts of the United States.However, many people come from other countries. Some visitors arereporters who want to see how other reporters present the news. Manyschool children visit to experience being a reporter and writing astory. Some people come to see newspapers from around the world.They like to compare how news organizations in the United States andother countries report the same story.
VOICE TWO:
Alice Bishop says the Newseum’s greatest effect is improvingunderstanding between the media and the public. She says the Newseumhelps to explain what reporters have to do to report the news. Shesays many people, especially Americans, think the job of a reporteris easier than it is.
The Newseum has an ethics center that explains the difficultiesreporters sometimes face before their stories are made public. Forexample, should a reporter protect the identity of someone who givesthem secret information? Many reporters refuse to release the nameof someone who supplies secret information to protect that person.Yet the reporter might be sent to jail if he or she refuses.Visitors are given a chance to make their own decision and then seewhat real reporters decided to do.
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VOICE ONE:
There are several areas in the Newseum. Visitors can watch greatmoments in history on huge televisions. There are films of the firstpeople landing on the moon and the murder of American president JohnF. Kennedy.
Another area shows visitors the history of news. People can seehow different groups of people communicate. They learn how people inparts of Africa and Asia used drums to communicate. They see lettersfrom the fourteenth century. They learn when the first newspaperstarted in Europe more than five hundred years ago.
Visitors to the Today’s News area at the Newseum experience thespeed of the latest information broadcast around the world. A hugewall almost forty meters long and three meters high has pictures oftelevision news broadcasts from many countries.
In this part of the museum, visitors can also hear radio newsbroadcasts, and read reports from news agencies and the Internet.
VOICE TWO:
The Newseum also offers special programs such as a current oneabout war stories. Visitors can examine the difficulties war-timereporters have faced over the past one-hundred-fifty years. They cansee clothing some reporters wore during a war. They also can examineobjects affected by war, like the wreckage of a car hit by bullets.
Newseum officials say the most popular event they organized was arecent show of pictures by Pulitzer award winners. Miss Bishop sayspeople loved seeing the news pictures.
VOICE ONE:
The Newseum now has a special show of reports about the terroristattacks in the United States. There are big pictures of the attacksand the recovery efforts. Some pictures show the reactions of peoplefrom around the world.
One visitor wrote about the show in a book provided by theNewseum to record visitors’ reactions. The visitor said that shelikes the show very much. Yet she asked the Newseum to take down onepicture. The picture was taken after the attack on the World TradeCenter in New York. It shows a man jumping from the top of oneburning building. Like thousands of other people, the man died. Thevisitor argued that this man is a victim, and the picture should notbe part of the show. The Newseum did not remove the picture.Officials say it is an important part of the news story.
VOICE TWO:
Visitors to the Newseum learn that being a reporter can bedangerous. In an open area outside the building is a memorial toreporters killed while doing their job. The memorial has almostone-thousand names.
Every year, the Freedom Forum has a ceremony to honor thosereporters. Other reporters read the names of those killed. Everyyear, the list gets longer.
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VOICE ONE:
Freedom Forum was established to help support press freedoms.Officials of the organization say freedom of the press is veryimportant.
Miss Bishop says that the public needs as much information as itcan get to make informed decisions. She says the public needs toknow what is happening. Different parts of the world, she says, arelinked together.
VOICE TWO:
The Freedom Forum operates with money from stock investments. Thevalue of its investments had reached one-thousand-million dollars.Recently, however, the value of its investments dropped bythree-hundred-million dollars.
Last month, Freedom Forum officials announced they will end alltheir international programs. They are closing all the group’soffices in London, Buenos Aires, Hong Kong and Johannesburg. FreedomForum will also close its office in New York City. Freedom Forum isno longer calling itself an international organization. It is nowcalled a Media Foundation.
Miss Bishop says employees will have to be cut from theorganization. She expects many employees to accept the company’soffer of extra money if they resign.
VOICE ONE:
Miss Bishop says Freedom Forum officials decided to provide moresupport to a new Newseum. The group plans to build a bigger andbetter Newseum on property it bought in the center of Washington.The new building is expected to be ready in Two-Thousand-Five. Thecurrent Newseum will remain open until the new one is completed.
Officials believe the new Newseum will have more visitors becauseit will be near other popular places, such as the world famousSmithsonian museums. They hope that more people from the UnitedStates and other countries will visit the Newseum to learn aboutreporters and what they do.
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VOICE TWO:
This Special English program was written by Yenni Djahidin Grow.It was produced by Caty Weaver. Our engineer was Mick Shaw. This isShirley Griffith.
VOICE ONE:
And this is Steve Ember. Join us again next week at this time foranother EXPLORATIONS program on the Voice of America.