Washington, D.C. – A $25 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to the Newseum – the largest investment from the news community to the newest museum in the nation’s capital – will honor the news legacy of the Knight brothers.
Opening April 11 on Pennsylvania Avenue, the new 250,000-square-foot, interactive museum of news will remind generations of Washington visitors of the importance of the First Amendment, free speech and the role of the media in a free society.
The grant gives the Knight name to two broadcast studios and a conference center at the Newseum, the largest single project ever devoted to journalism and the free flow of news.
“With its central location in the nation’s capital, the Newseum is extraordinarily well positioned to foster public awareness of the value of journalism and the First Amendment for generations of Americans,” said Dr. W. Gerald Austen, Knight Foundation’s board chairman.
“This extraordinary gift will make the Newseum a stronger institution and it guarantees that the legacy of the Knight brothers will continue,” said Charles Overby, chief executive officer of the Newseum.
Starting with the Beacon Journal in Akron, Ohio, Jack and Jim Knight grew their company, first Knight Newspapers, then Knight Ridder, into one of the nation’s largest newspaper companies. Knight Ridder was sold and broken up in 2006, giving impetus to efforts ensuring that the Knight brothers’ legacy remains a long-remembered part of American journalism.
In 1950, the brothers started Knight Foundation, a private, independent foundation, to focus on their twin passions of news and community. The foundation, now the nation’s leading journalism funder, will make the Knight Conference Center at the Newseum a central meeting place for its journalism work.
“The Newseum will immediately become one of the most important platforms for discussion of free speech in America,” said Alberto Ibargüen, president of Knight Foundation. “We want to be part of that conversation, we want our journalism grantees to be part of that conversation and we want the values the Knight brothers stood for and defended to be integral to that conversation.”
Because Ibargüen serves both as president of Knight Foundation and chairman of the Newseum’s board, the grant was developed and negotiated by a special committee of staff and trustees consisting of Knight vice chairman Robert Briggs, trustee Paul Steiger and Paula Ellis, Knight’s vice president for strategic initiatives.
“The Newseum will be the most interactive museum in the nation,” said Briggs, who also serves as chairman of the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame Foundation. “That’s one of the reasons we are excited by the major education opportunities the Newseum will provide.”
Once opened, the new museum’s two Knight broadcast studios, including the Pennsylvania Avenue Studio overlooking the U.S. Capitol, will be the location of top-flight news programs and civic dialogue on the issues of the day.
“Millions of Americans travel to the National Mall to learn what it means to be an American,” said Steiger, editor in chief of ProPublica. “It’s fitting for the Fourth Estate to take up residence there.”
Knight Foundation joins a host of supporters from news and journalism contributing to the Newseum, including the Annenberg Foundation, The New York Times, News Corporation, Cox Enterprises, Hearst Corporation, ABC News, NBC News and Time Warner.
About Knight Foundation
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes journalism excellence worldwide and invests in the vitality of U.S. communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Since 1950, Knight Foundation has made nearly $400 million in grants to support journalism. To learn more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.
About Newseum
The Newseum – a 250,000-square-foot museum of news – offers visitors an experience that blends five centuries of news history with up-to-the-second technology and hands-on exhibits. The Newseum is located at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and Sixth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. It features seven levels of galleries, theaters, retail spaces and visitor services. It offers a unique environment that takes museum-goers behind the scenes to experience how and why news is made.