Saying Goodbye to the Newseum: Its Front Pages From Newspapers Across the Country Told an Important Story

Tomorrow the Newseum is closing—also disappearing is its daily gallery of newspaper front pages from across the country.

All those front pages—from places like Green Bay, Pittsburgh, El Paso, and Orlando—showed  that what’s big news in Washington DC and New York is rarely big news in the rest of the country.

The smart journalists in DC and New York might be tempted to think that newspaper readers in those cities are out-of-touch with what’s important, while most of the rest of the country is thinking that DC and New York journalists are out-of-touch with real life.

That divide is what surprised DC and New York journalists in 2004 when George W. Bush beat John Kerry and shocked them in 2016 when Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton.

The Newseum’s front pages were a daily reminder that those most out-of-touch with the country are the television talking heads and newspaper columnists and reporters in DC and New York.

And next year President Trump will enjoy telling voters that what comes from those very smart and out-of-touch journalists in DC and New York is really fake news.