Read all about it

It's probably true that journalists like nothing better than to talk about themselves. Another popular truism comes from the Washington Post's publisher Philip Graham who said, "Journalism is the first rough draft of history."

The Newseum, the newest major tourist attraction at the nation's capital, is dedicated to the profession's other pillar-its public responsibility. The building's fagade bears a not-so-subtle reminder. A structure the height of the building bears the words from the First Amendment, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press."

The Newseum is located on Pennsylvania Avenue, midway between the White House and the Capitol.

Inside are so many fascinating displays a person cannot take them all in within one day. The Newseum has 15 theaters and 14 galleries displaying news history. Even portions of the Berlin Wall are there. Pulitzer-winning photos, 120 news films, 23 hours of video and an electronic news center are there for the viewer.

The museum's president said in a preview, the "hunger for news and information has never been greater around the world." In fact, that just might turn out to be the challenge as well, and why this is an interesting time to focus on the value of the press.

News aggregation builds mountains of information every day, often too much to absorb with too little time to do it. In that struggle between quantity and time, capsule reports become the news pills for the viewing public. A kind of "less is more" belief has arisen. Headline blurbs vie for attention and often are the story itself.

In reality, sometimes a story is too dense, too complex, or is simply so undigested its meaning isn't evident. It takes time for the elements to come together or for some other important fact to come to light. Those stories are different from a fire or a disaster or a freeway police chase. Political stories are among the difficult ones.

A noteworthy example occurred about the time the Newseum was opening its doors to the public in early April. During an interview by ABC's Martha Raddatz, President Bush admitted knowing that top aides met in the White House basement to manage how waterboarding and other similar interrogation techniques would be applied. "And I approved," Bush told Raddatz.

What it means is that the CIA's use of those torture techniques could be traced back not only to White House aides, which was already known, but to the president's knowledge and to other top cabinet officials. The new detail is subtle but significant. It is about the national interest.

Torture is a crime in the United States and under international law. Authorizing and being complicit could have repercussions even after Bush and his administration leave office, when individuals could be arrested during foreign travel.

When Alberto Gonzales was White House counsel (later becoming attorney general), he was known as early as 2005 to have chaired meetings concerning torture. It is also known that then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft was the highest ranking participant outside the White House to participate. The others were high-level functionaries.

But the Raddatz interview revealed that actually Vice President Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, (at the time national security advisor; now secretary of State), and then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld also participated in the discussions.

Dan Froomkin, columnist of the Washington Post, noted the American Civil Liberties Union has called for Congress to appoint a special prosecutor to look into the matter. He singled out newspaper editorials in Kansas City, Seattle, Brattleboro, Vt., and Tuscaloosa ,Ala. about the affair.

This kind of journalism is cold, sober and thoughtful. It isn't news like vanilla ice cream. The ultimate outcome is hard to anticipate. What other scenarios could unfold? Only the facts are in. That's how a rough draft of history is written.

(Josi de la Isla, author of "The Rise of Hispanic Political Power" (Archer Books, 2003) writes a weekly commentary for Hispanic Link News Service. E-mail joseisla3(at)yahoo.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)