News is the news at high-tech museum

Newspaper revenue is plummeting and television networks are desperately wooing a dwindling audience. For industry veterans, the outlook has never been so bleak.

What better time to throw a huge party?

A seven-story, $450-million museum paying tribute to the news and those who report and ready it for viewers, listeners and readers opened Friday to great fanfare in a prime location on Pennsylvania Avenue -- midway between the White House and Capitol, not far from the National Mall.

The Newseum is a flashy addition to a collection of museums that distinguish the nation’s capital and draw tourists. The palace is highly interactive and celebrates the glory days of a business that is plagued by shrinking audiences and rising costs.

In a city where free entry to museums is still the norm, adults must pay $20 for admission to the new attraction. But its officials are gambling that tourists will be willing to spend money for what they term a “learning and fun” experience.

Charles L. Overby, the Newseum’s chief executive, said the International Spy Museum, another Washington tourist destination that charges a similar ticket price, had 750,000 visitors last year.

“We could have built an average museum with glass cases where people come in and look at items, or we could build a high-tech museum that gives people something to do,” he said, guessing that between 500,000 and 750,000 visitors will come in the first year. “People are willing to pay money if you have a good experience.”

With some speculating that the print version of the newspaper is going the way of the Pony Express, perhaps a museum is where it should be featured.

One exhibit explores the future of the digital age, highlighting the role of bloggers and citizen journalists.

But the vast majority of content in the 14 major exhibition galleries and 15 theaters is focused on how the mainstream media covered the 20th century’s biggest stories.

One gallery displays an array of heart-wrenching photographs that won Pulitzer Prizes. A James Madison impersonator talks with schoolchildren at an exhibit on the 1st Amendment. A mangled transmission tower that was once atop the World Trade Center is part of an exhibit on how reporters covered the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. There’s an ethics center where budding journalists can ponder real-life dilemmas faced by professionals.

Aside from a few gory displays, the museum is child-friendly. At eight “Be a TV Reporter” stations, would-be broadcasters are recorded reading from a teleprompter in front of their choice of backdrops. The videos are then posted to the Internet, where they can be downloaded.

Michael R. Nelson, who teaches Internet studies at Georgetown University in Washington, took his 10-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, out of school for the morning to show her the museum. She enjoyed acting like a reporter in front of the green screen, and he was impressed by how much technology was emphasized in the museum’s layout.

Using the front pages of newspapers to track memorable stories makes the museum as much about history as anything else.

“Journalism really marks time,” said Abby Flottemesch, a Washington resident who brought her parents visiting from Minnesota. “It evokes such emotion. You feel a little bit of what people were going through at the time.”

Some items picked by curators remind visitors how dangerous journalism can be -- including the blood-stained remnants of a war reporter’s notebook, left after a grenade exploded. The Journalists Memorial contains the name of 1,843 who have died while reporting the news since 1837.

A wall of photos from the 2008 presidential campaign are on display. Videos chronicle television coverage of the 2000 election’s brouhaha, the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the shooting last year at Virginia Tech.

Museum curators considered a wide range of comedy to be part of the news. Clips from “Saturday Night Live,” “MADtv” and “The Colbert Report” play on televisions in the museum.

The museum’s location and size -- including a 74-foot-tall inscription of the 1st Amendment on marble above the main entrance -- serve as reminders of the fundamental role the Fourth Estate has played in the shaping of America. And the heavy reliance on glass is designed to represent the media’s commitment to openness and transparency.

Overby said he wants the museum to “stand as a beacon for freedom for at least 100 years.”

The 250,000-square-foot edifice -- part of a project that includes condominiums, a Wolfgang Puck-managed restaurant and a 535-seat theater -- has been in the works for nearly eight years.

A much smaller Newseum, in nearby Arlington, Va., closed in 2002. The new museum was primarily paid for by gifts from a variety of media companies, foundations and the nonprofit Freedom Forum.

At a dedication ceremony Friday, Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of News Corp., sought to dispel much of the gloom surrounding the news business.

He insisted the media are entering a golden age in which readers and listeners have more choices about where to get information.

“Those who fear this challenge might as well look for space in one of these exhibits,” he said, “because they’ll become museum pieces long before their time.”

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james.hohmann@latimes.com