WASHINGTON D.C. (AP) The Freedom Forum broke ground Dec. 4 on its new, larger Newseum and showed off its plans for a six-story building west of the Capitol.

"Today we start doing what newspeople are good at, we start digging up dirt," said Charles Overby, chairman and chief executive officer of the Freedom Forum, which funds the Newseum.

The $400 million museum will replace the old Newseum in neighboring Arlington, VA, which closed in March 2002. Construction is to begin this spring and the Newseum is to open in 2006.

The new one will be two and a half times larger than the original, said Peter Prichard, president of the Freedom Forum and the Newseum.

Prichard said electronic and interactive digital exhibits will await visitors.

He said the Newseum will offer a "four-dimensional time travel experience where visitors will see and feel what it was like to witness and report on major news events."

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