Newseum: An exhibit so big they're building the museum around it

Richmond Times-Dispatch ^ | Mar 15, 2006 | BRETT ZONGKER

[Ligeia]

WASHINGTON - The building is far from finished, but Newseum curators installed their first artifact Wednesday _ an item so big they'll put up the rest of the museum around it.

The world's first news satellite truck was gingerly lowered by a crane into what will be the new home of the museum dedicated to journalism and the First Amendment.

The CONUS 1 satellite truck transformed local television news in 1984 by allowing stations to cover national stories without depending on the major networks, said Newseum curator Carrie Christoffersen. Hubbard Broadcasting and CONUS Communications used the first satellite truck. Four years later, at the 1988 presidential nominating conventions, dozens of stations used similar equipment.

"There was a time when there was a significant lag time in getting the news to people," Christoffersen said, recalling a time when film had to be brought back and developed. "It's hard to understand nowadays with the 24-hour news cycle."

The truck will eventually be in one of the first exhibits Newseum visitors will see, along with a CNN video satellite phone and a pre-Civil War photo wagon that allowed photographers to develop pictures in the field, Christoffersen said.

[Ligeia]

The New Newseum, Washington, DC

[Uncle George]

Maybe someday the remains of the New York Times building will be on display,

[martin_fierro]

They'll need a whole new annex for the Tribute to Big Hair.

[fullchroma]

Wonderful. A monument to the self-adulating news media.

[abb]

Maybe they'll display the mummified remains of Wallace, Cronkite, et al. Sorta like they used to do the body of Lenin at Red Square...

[Ligeia]

I wonder when this exhibit will open:

[Ligeia]

Oh, that's awful! The square footage needed for the Big Hair Exhibit will pale in comparison to that necessary for the Big Ego Exhibit.