Newseum

My amateur take is that the Newseum was built at the tail end of the WE MATTER IT IS ALL ABOUT US REALLY POINT THE CAMERAS AT US era of journalism, which stretched from Gulf War I through OJ through impeachment through the political magazine boomlet of the 90s through Bush v. Gore through 9/11 through Gulf War II. Let's called it the Maureen Dowd era.

Jeffrey Herbst, president and chief executive of the Newseum, stepped down suddenly on Monday as the museum’s board announced a full-blown review of its long-troubled finances.

The review could result in the sale of the landmark building on Pennsylvania Avenue, according to a statement from the Freedom Forum, the creator and primary benefactor of the Newseum.

Nothing wrong with a journalism museum, but there was always an element of self-congratulatory hubris about Newseum. I haven't been - maybe it's awesome - but there was something off about setting up a shrine to yourselves at that moment. You did bad, journalists. And that's even without getting to the most important thing - local journalism has been devastated.