MY sisters have two brothers who were newspaper editors. Oldest sister is particularly defensive of us. She was outraged by an assault on I-want-to-be-loved journalists carried recently in Time magazine. Do journalists
want to be loved?The truth is Time had a lot of it right. The essay by Andrew Ferguson had to do with the newly opened Freedom Foundation Newseum in Arlington, Va., just across the Potomac from Washington, D.C.
Newseum goes back 100,000 years, more or less, to trace journalism since the first spoken news was believed to have started. From many mottoes on display Ferguson picked on the motto of a Georgia newspaper: "Liked by Many, Cussed by Some, Read by Them All." Clever but mere bluster, he contended -- journalists don't want to be cussed, they want to be loved, even Mike Wallace.
Thus, he reasons, the Freedom Forum, a nonprofit creation of journalists, has spent $50 million to make you love us, to cover our sense of insecurity that makes us "the single most insecure group of human beings since God, as a gag, invented the Chicago Cubs."
We are always at bat, it seems, to defend ourselves and keep our precious First Amendment privileges which, we stress and deeply believe, are for the benefit of everyone, not just us.
Newseum is worth your time when you are next in Washington. It seems outlandish to link it with the Holocaust Museum. Yet they share the same designer, Ralph Applebaum, and the same interactive characteristic of having things going on all the time to draw your attention four or five different ways at once.
You quickly learn it would take you days to investigate and appreciate all the resources put within your reach. In the case of Newseum you also know that if you come back tomorrow it won't be the same because the 70 front pages on display and the 126-foot panoramic TV screen are always today's news.
You don't come out of Newseum with a heavy, brooding feeling, however. You may come out like Ferguson, who is pompous himself while accusing us of being pompous. Or you may just be totally amazed at the scope, breadth, speed and controversy pro and con over what we call journalism today.
Newseum has theaters showing great moments of print, radio and TV journalism, a central globe encircled by ever-changing current headlines, places where you yourself can play editor or newscaster, a large collection of journalistic memorabilia, and an adjoining outdoor Freedom Park, which includes a memorial to those who died trying to get the news.
IT carries plenty of criticism of journalists. It may help you understand, as Ferguson doesn't seem to, why we refer to our work as a craft, not a profession. It's hardly freedom if your practitioners have to be licensed.
Having been engaged in this craft for more than 50 years I am pretty philosophical about both those who criticize us and those who praise us. They all tend to have valid points, at least from their point of view. While we enjoy the kudos we should remember our zillion shortcomings. And when the brickbats fly we should remember it would be a Hitlerian society if they couldn't.
P.S. -- Newseum is open Wednesdays through Sundays, no charge. Don't miss the restrooms, where the walls feature some wonderful newspaper goofs.