On Friday, April 26th, North Penn High School journalism students traveled to Washington, D.C to explore the history of media at the Newseum. Featuring seven levels of exhibits and in-depth features, the Newseum, a word short for the museum of news, allows visitors to thoroughly explore the power and influence of journalism.

The incredible variety and diversity of the museum is seen in its fifteen permanent exhibits, which cover news and media in the United States’ past and present, as well as struggles of pursuing news by journalists from around the world. The News Corporation News History Gallery explains the history of news in thorough detail, with original artifacts and publications. Starting with an original copy of a newspaper from the year 1603, to news coverage of famous political mishaps, wars, and domestic affairs, the gallery tells the story of news which will live on forever.

Sponsored by Comcast, the 9/11 gallery presents the heartrending news coverage of the awful events that changed the world on that day. The Bloomburg Internet, TV and Radio Gallery follows the effects of technology on the news world.

The Berlin Wall Gallery showcases the fascinating role that news played in the story of the infamous wall. This exhibit is home to the largest display of original parts of the wall outside of Germany.

Other fascinating exhibits include Cox Enterprises First Amendment Gallery, Time Warner World News Gallery, Today’s Front Pages Gallery, Journalists Memorial Gallery, Pulliam Family Great Books Gallery, and ABC News Changing Exhibits Gallery, the Bancroft Family Ethics Center, and  a favorite among the students, the HP New Media Gallery.

Emotions hung in the air and silence loomed in the Pulitzer Prize Photographs Gallery, which includes background information on these famous photographs and the photographers which captured a piece of history. The revolutionary photos display some beautiful moments of life, but also the horrific struggles of the world.

On display through January 5, 2014, “JFK” includes three remarkable exhibits featuring the lives of John F. Kennedy and the first family, as well as an analysis of his assassination. The exhibit includes amazing photographs of the famous family that touched America’s hearts.

Another present exhibit displays incredible pieces of infamous crime cases handled by the FBI, and the news coverage of them. The exhibit houses many amazing artifacts, including the actual Unabomber’s cabin, and parts from the plane that crashed into the World Trade Center. Through hundreds of photographs and displays, this exhibit shows the presence in media in some very difficult FBI cases throughout history.

The students enjoyed the wide range of exhibits at the Newseum, and were able to learn from the interesting environment.

“My favorite part of going to the Newseum was being surrounded by current events and old news and being able to apply the concepts I learned in Journalism last year and American Cultures this year to look at news in a more broad perspective,” said junior Radhika Amin.

At the end of their visit, the students also sat in for a lecture of Media Ethics, educating students on the tricky side of journalism and examining several real-life case studies of numerous controversial journalistic pieces.