Outstanding Outpost of Freedom.

And if you want a bit more…

In its new location on Pennsylvania Avenue, having migrated across the river from earlier digs in Roslyn, the Newseum now sits where it belongs: among Washington’s best attractions for visitors and locals alike. Admission will set you back a cool $20, but it’s well worth it.

Your visit starts with an orientation video, narrated by Charles Osgood (as the staff person told us four times), that seeks to answer the question: “What is news?” From the theater, you pass a powerful exhibit with the remains of the Berlin wall, and a collage of electronic and print coverage of the momentous period around the wall’s destruction.

From there, you rise up six floors into the museum’s amazing gallery of news history. There are original newspapers covering major events dating back hundreds of years, and defining electronic moments are presented in the monitors on the walls. Your journey continues down five more floors, gallery upon gallery of amazing material innovatively and engagingly presented. The last stop — before a great gift shop — is the museum’s 9/11 exhibit, which includes a huge wall showing the front pages of newspapers from around the world in the days following the attacks.

And, oh yeah, there’s the view. The museum’s sixth floor portico has the best view of the U.S. Capitol anywhere.

Throughout the museum, the message of freedom of the press is everywhere. Each gallery, it seems, presents the case for freedom of speech and of the press in a different way. And each is compelling, starting with the forty foot high stone carving of the First Amendment hung on the building’s facade.

So, the long version of my review: Go. Visit. Enjoy. It’s a great experience.