An investigative journalist sheds light on issues obscured in darkness, clarifying factual distortions, explaining what is difficult to comprehend and making what is opaque become clear. Similarly, the Memorial for Fallen Journalists engages with themes of transparency and light. It consists of a collection of transparent, solid cast glass elements arranged on the site in a seemingly accidental manner which gradually combine to form a pure cylindrical space at the heart of the site, suggesting the way seemingly disconnected facts coalesce to form a journalist’s story.
Experiencing the memorial is a journey of discovery that unfolds slowly, space by space like a story, and casts the visitor as investigative journalist. Visitors navigate through the scattered glass elements which stack simply to form the circular Remembrance Hall space at the heart of the site. Upon reaching this space, disorder yields to order and the horizontally arrayed glass elements -- symbolizing fallen journalists -- aggregate to form a pure cylinder, elemental and timeless. In the space’s center is a circular, polished glass “lens” in the ground bearing an important message: the text of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Approaching the Lens and looking downward to read its message, the visitor’s own reflection gazes back, implying that each one of us has a role to play in protecting First Amendment freedoms, to properly honor the sacrifice of those remembered here. At night, a soft glow emanates from the up-lit glass elements and the brightly lit Capitol dome is visible above the Hall’s eastern rim, signifying the watchdog role that journalists play in a democracy.