travel MIKE SERGEANT
NewsMuseum, Sintra
For those of us out there who couldn’t simply sit back and enjoy a week in the scorching Portuguese sun without itching for a press release, the NewsMuseum is the answer. The first thing you see
when you step in is a mock studio set complete with green screen, microphone and TV cameras. That’s right: your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to pick a news story from the bulletin and
present it on camera. It could be a pastel de nata festival coming to town, or maybe the latest Benfica football match. As Europe’s largest media
and communications space, the NewsMuseum has something for everybody. These go from rooms telling the global history of the press through black- and-white photographs and radio snippets to a space where you can test your current affairs knowledge.
No stone is left unturned
when it comes to beats. There is a gallery dedicated to war correspondence, one where bright screens narrate the history of sports journalism and a box room dedicated to broadcast where you can listen to Portugal’s agenda- setting radio reporting on historic events. A new addition is the
Future of Media display, where visitors are encouraged to reflect on what the industry will look like in 2046, and how factors such as AI and technology will play a role in this.
The museum’s mission
doesn’t stop at its exhibits. The NewsMuseum Academy is its newest branch, and is dedicated to providing training in communications and marketing to those who don’t work in media. Sintra has a long history
with writing. Fernando Pessoa believed it to be one of the mystical centres of the globe, whereas, for Lord Byron, the
town was “the most beautiful perhaps in the world”. The writing residence par
excellence is the Palacio de Pena, with its “bewitching, extravagant beauty”, as Hans Christian Andersen penned.
NewsMuseum entry: €6,50/€3,50 for journalists with ID Palacio de Pena entry: €14/£11
committed, dogged investigative journalism can achieve given the time and resources to pursue stories. One can only hope that the current owner of the Washington Post takes note. Located just a mile away
The Scandal Suite, Watergate Hotel, Washington
From 1984’s room 101 to the Watergate Hotel’s room 214 which is also a highly charged room. Some might feel unnerved about sleeping in a room where the events that took place led to one of the most explosive scandals in American political history and
to President Richard Nixon’s resignation in disgrace two years later in 1974. That said, I’m sure many
journalists would feel at home – not to say we can be a bit egotistical as a profession. The impact of those events
and their legacy are also testament to what
from the Oval Office, the Scandal Suite is full of memorabilia related to the infamous set of events including a reel-to-reel tape recorder, binoculars and a manual typewriter. And, after a long day of
sightseeing and a stroll past the pretty buildings on Pennsylvania Avenue, even the hardiest reporter will be in need of some downtime. As you soak in the luxury
of your suite, why not adorn yourself with one of the custom Cover Up robes and curl up on the bed to enjoy a re-watch of All the President’s
Men or the Frost-Nixon interview. Was it not President Nixon
who said: “When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal”? Why does that remind me of someone else? Never mind – might just be simpler to turn on the news. If you prefer to read, the room also has a curated book collection
including some of the best reportage of award-winning journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. There’s nothing like a bit of light holiday reading.
Room rates start around $1,600 (£1,300) per night depending on season
theJournalist | 16
Portugal USA
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