So what if the price of art is consistently devaluing? At least all of the good stuff is locked away in the Louvre or the Met, so no one has to worry about it changing hands anytime soon. Because if there is one thing we expect museums to do, it's stay open and let citizens look at expensive, old pieces of art that we could never have afforded ourselves.

But this recent economic downturn has affected even our nation's most school-trip-visited resource: the museums. Well, particularly Washington's Newseum (get it?) the $450 million building that houses interactive exhibits and shows about the history of our nations, um, news cycle, and which currently has to cut 10% of their workforce in order to stay afloat.

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That the media industry felt the need to create its own museum is at once commendable (yea for nostalgia!) and narcissistic (must we really celebrate ourselves to the extreme?). But the Newseum was built and opened, and it's sitting there in Washington D.C. as an homage to the Edward R. Murrows of our time. It's also home to Ted "Unabomber" Kaczynski's 10-by-12-foot cabin where he lived in rural Montana; conservators snatched it up to put it on display, where it remains the largest of the museum's 200 artifacts in its "G-Men and Journalists: Top News Stories of the FBI’s First Century" exhibit. (It sits near Patty Hearst's coat.)

Kaczynski, locked up in a federal prison through eternity, got wind of it when he saw in the Washington Post a "full-page, full-color advertisement that features my cabin, which is being displayed publicly at something called a ‘Newseum.'"

We're not sure exactly how the Newseum legally got its hands on the cabin — it's likely on loan from the FBI, which seized the building and OK'd its move and display — but there's one thing we're sure of: They're loving the free publicity Kaczynski just offered.

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The Newseum, the recently-opened media museum in Washington D.C., does not pay homage to copy editors. This is unfair, argues a copy editor sympathizer. [NYT]

Fine on Media on the Newseum: "The Newseum is designed for an era when news anchors and their ilk had a central status in public discourse, not a shrinking one. It was built for yesterday, not today—and definitely not tomorrow." [BW]

We're living in an era where Americans have less respect for the news media than ever. Even those inside the industry are questioning its values — as they stare at pink slips and moving boxes. So how to reinvigorate this country's interest in our industry's storied past? By spending $450 on the Newseum, the just-opened Washington D.C. ode to our self-importance. Now officially allowing the public to stream past Ana Marie Cox's blogging slippers and NBC's touch-screen "experience what it's like to be a reporter" exhibit, just how many people are interested enough to show up?

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Sad face! The Newseum (vomit, we know) will not be opening on its planned date two months from now because "the final installation of state-of-the-art electronics" still has to be completed. Which means the $435 million, 643,000 square foot D.C. building dedicated to showcasing why Edward Murrow's era is a thing of the past won't be cutting any ribbon until at least the beginning of 2008. [WaPo]