The Access Hollywood tape was private comments.
Interesting compare/contrast.
The Access Hollywood tape was private comments during a shoot to be broadcast on the public airwaves on a station licensed by the government.
George W Bush was a private citizen driving on a public road using a license issued by the government.
At what point do we call it an abuse of the government license to accurately report the news?
On the one hand, Bush was the son of a prominent government official, and likely called in favors to prevent the contemporaneous reporting the DUI. It was only when he ran for President that the oppo research team found it (or, they found it when he ran for governor of Texas and decided it was too valuable to use then).
On the other hand, Trump was not a government official or related to one, so the comments were likely edited out due to broadcast standards of the day and the fact that they didn't add to the story. However, the government licensed media still held onto the tapes rather than discard them, and used the licensed airwaves to broadcast them once Trump became a candidate government official.
On both hands, an argument can be made that those with the government license to broadcast used their stations to withhold, and then later broadcast, damaging news when it was convenient for THEM, not for the subject.
-PJ