ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 20, 1997 TAG: 9704210050
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ARLINGTON
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Its creator, the Freedom Forum, says it's meant to ease the suspicion between the public and the press.
Helping dedicate the Newseum, a flashy display about covering the news, President Clinton said reporters must be careful to separate rumor from fact - especially when reports ``could cause real damage to people.''
The $50 million Newseum tells the story of newsgathering from its origins to the high-tech present, involving visitors with interactive news rooms and a 126-foot video wall of television news programs from around the world.
It is an attempt by its creator, the Freedom Forum, to narrow the gulf of suspicion between the public and the press.
Vice President Al Gore, at the opening Friday, said approvingly that the Newseum ``celebrates the freedom of the press but also takes a critical look of how that freedom has been used and at times abused.''
Clinton, at the White House but appearing on the video wall, was asked about the role of reporters in today's society.
``Whatever I say, I'll be behind the curve ball, which is, of course, where all of you try to keep me,'' he said.
Clinton offered this cautionary advice:
``Be careful when we report stories about things that might be true, not to say they are - particularly if, to say that they are, or to imply that they are, could cause real damage to people and their reputations and indeed in their own lives.''
Allen H. Neuharth, chairman of the Freedom Forum and former chairman of Gannett Co., said the idea for a museum of news grew out of concern over ``the growing antagonism between the press and the public.
``By taking visitors behind the scenes, we hope to forge a deeper understanding of the role of news and a free press in our lives.''
Gore, a former journalist, said that in his five years with the Tennessean in Nashville he never realized the reporter's dream of running into the news room with a story so big that it justified the shout, ``Stop the presses.''
``Well, finally I can say, `Start the Presses.' The Newseum is officially open,'' he said.
The Newseum is across the Potomac River from Washington. Exhibits range from Middle Eastern cuneiform tablets to early newspapers and the eyeglasses and pencil of Mark Kellogg, who, while reporting for The Associated Press, was killed with George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
Also on display are Ernest Hemingway's press credentials, Ernie Pyle's typewriter and the microphone CNN correspondent Peter Arnett used in Baghdad during the Persian Gulf War.
LENGTH: Medium: 56 linesby CNB