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January 31, 2009

Newseum - an amazing resource

The Newseum is one of the most fascinating news resources that I've come across in a very long time.

My favorite part is the navigable world-wide map of newspaper front page screenshots. Clicking on any listed newspaper brings up a window with a close-up of the day's front page along with a readable PDF of it along with a link to that newspaper's website. Today's map has 648 front pages from 64 countries. The Newseum's FAQ says that every day at least 575 newspapers from around the world submit their front pages to the Newseum.

Here in Oregon there are five newspapers participating. I'm not sure why more newspapers don't participate. Having spent most of my early childhood in and around Medford I immediately noticed the Mail-Tribune's absence. Nevertheless Oregon is reasonably well represented and there are a few newspapers from just beyond Oregon's borders - such as The Columbian and the Tri-City Herald - which are as relevant to the nearby Oregonians as the more distantly located Oregon newspapers.

Another really interesting part is the archived front pages of selected major news stories dating back to the Space Shuttle explosion in February 2003. Want to see what different newspapers published on their front pages when Ronald Reagan died on June 6, 2004? Just click on that entry and up comes 238 front page screenshots, 160 of which are from American newspapers. Search through the listed American papers and you'll find screenshots of The Oregonain and the Statesman Journal for the day Reagan died. Diehard Red Sox fans will enjoy perusing the 339 screenshots commerating the day that they broke the curse.

(hat tip: Tom Carter)

Posted by Kevin at January 31, 2009 03:23 PM