Monica turned journalism inside out (The demise of MSM alert)

Charleston Daily Mail ^ | December 22, 2007 | Don Surber

[Zakeet]

THE Second Amendment provides a good test of the American politician. If a candidate is not going to trust the people with guns, why should we trust said candidate with the government?

The equivalent test for journalists will be taken next month as the press marks the 10th anniversary of the breaking of the Monica Lewinsky story.

How a newspaper or columnist describes this event tells a lot about how that newspaper or columnist views the audience.

I am not talking about whether it is described as presidential perjury or a sex scandal. That is a right-left spin thing that now has little relevance.

I mean how the story was broken - by Matt Drudge through his drudgereport.com.

The story did not break in "Newsweek," even though its reporter, Michael Isikoff, had the goods. His editors sat on his story.

Whoever shopped the story to Isikoff, then shopped it to Drudge, who posted it online. This made the Internet buzz, as people debated the subject in AOL chat rooms.

The Washington Post broke the story in the print media on Jan. 21, 1998.

On Jan. 26, 1998, President Bill Clinton wagged his finger and told a press conference: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky."

Thus began one of the most entertaining years in American politics.

The lasting effect is what the scandal (readers may choose the adjective) did to the American press corps.

Overnight, a then-31-year-old former gift-shop clerk at CBS became the most important man in American journalism.

His Internet site averaged 85,000 unique visitors a day in 1997.

On Monday, 18.3 million people visited his site. That is more than all the people who watched ABC, CBS and NBC news combined that night.

[Garden Island]

I discovered Free Republic in July 97 after a Tony Snow syndicated article that was in the Washington Times that referenced the Drudge Report breaking Kathleen Wiley’s private time with the ‘Toon.

Drudge had a link called “The Whitwater Page”.

That’s when the addiction started.

I remember the Friday night after BJ’s ham fisted testimony, when Drudge posted the bombshell, then Sunday morning when Cokie Roberts and George Will mentioned it, and then KABOOM: when the Wash Post spattered it as a banner headline that Wednesday. For some reason, that’s when it became huge.

I’ll never forget some of the hilarious FR posts from that time.

[PA-RIVER]

You will all find this interesting.... How the MSM spikes..

I was in Los Angeles, around March or April of that year on a business trip. At round 4:30 or 5:00 , I got back to the hotel room. Turned on the TV, and I swear to god on a stack of bibles, I see a 15 second preview of a srory that is scheduled to air on the following news program about Bill Clinton raping some woman. That a man who was friends of the rape victim would talk, and I think I saw a video of the guy who was a friend of Juanita Broderick's in this preview video segment.

I was amazed , watched the whole news program, and the story never aired!!!!!

I guarantee some one in the white house called that local station and threatened them with the wrath of Cankles.

Needless to say, 8 or 9 months later I was amazed yet again when her story finally started to break. DEJA VUE!!!!!

[airborne]

I remember you!

[LimaLimaMikeFoxtrot]

People who feel no shame for shameful acts are not worth a rotten bean. Those who admire the shameless are worth even less.

Boy does that speak volumes. I was blue in the face debating some Lefty friends in '98 when they continually defended that scumbag, seemingly comfortable with what he did to the office of President.

[Zack Nguyen]

Thus began one of the most entertaining years in American politics.

This must be some new definition of the word "entertaining" of which I was unaware. I remember it well, and I found it appalling. A President got away with diddling an intern in the Oval Office, lying about it under oath, and got to wag his finger at the rest of us, treating the American people like some sort of peasantry. I did not find it funny or entertaining. Bill Clinton is a 12 year old trapped in a grown man's body, and that is being generous.