A Tribute to the News and to Those Who Bring it to Us

I'll never forget an episode of Alvin and the Chipmunks when I was a kid where Alvin had a dream that the Berlin Wall came down.  They sang a song in the episode to which I can still remember the chorus.  "Let the wall fall down/tumble to the ground/and we can live in peace all around."  In my memory the episode was written the year of but well before the wall was actually removed.  In my childhood, the prophetic aspect of the episode was basically magical.  In reality, I'm sure the writers were more in tune than I to what was actually happening in the world.

This photograph by Photos o' Randomness on Flickr is a picture of authentic 3-ton pieces of the actual Berlin Wall that are on display at the Newseum in Washington D.C.

The Newseum is a great D.C. attraction for student tours.  It's a unique mixture of artifacts like these, memorabilia, documents, photographs, and video from some of the world's most notable events.  It is literally a tribute to the people who dared to capture them.

Journalists recorded tragic events while the rest of us could do nothing but watch and cry.  They were also the first to tell us good news like that of the Berlin Wall.  Without them, we would have had less to celebrate.  We often discover through their eyes and understand our world through them.

At the Newseum, visitors can view the morning headlines from hundreds of papers around the globe at once.  Imagine sipping your Starbucks in front of that display!  But beyond today's headlines, the Newseum showcases those from yesterday and the journalists who found a way to bring them to us.