The Lewinsky scandal was a political sex scandal emerging in 1998 between the President of the United States, Bill Clinton and a 22-year-old White House Intern, Monica Lewinsky. In 1995, Lewinsky, a graduate of Lewis & Clark College, was hired as an intern at the White House during Clinton’s first time, and began a personal relationship with him. Lewinsky later confided the details of her relationship to her friend and Defense Department co-worker Linda Tripp, who secretly recorded their telephone conversations. The news of this extra-marital affair and the investigation following the news breakout, broke new ground in the media because boundaries between personal and political stories in the media coverage were hardly visible. The wide reporting of the scandal resulted in criticism of the press for over-coverage, which has further impacted the way society and news work today.
The affair between Monica Lewinsky and the President at the time, Bill Clinton, was the first massive political story of the emerging Internet era of Journalism. News of the scandal first broke on January 17th, 1998, on the Drudge Report. The story broke in the mainstream press on January 21st, in the Washington Post. The story lingered for several days, despite the denials made from the president, the demand for answers from the White House became unable to ignore. The affair was a turning point for politics, and the media who covers politics. An important observation resulting from the Lewinsky scandal is that this story began the true entrenchment of partisans, and the polarization of the public that has paralyzed our current politics. Paying close attention to these studies is important, and we are able to see that the ripples of these events are evident in any long-term studies of the partisanship in the country.
According to the Pew Research Foundation, we can see how much more ideological we are as a country than compared to two decades ago. The increase of polarization is also related to the increase in interest groups, which also have played in a big part of how the Lewinsky scandal changed media coverage forever. In addition, the way that the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal was covered by the media, handled by the public and politicians, and how technology turned into a worldwide sensation displays a pivot point in American politics.
On January 26th, President Bill Clinton stood with his wife, and spoke at a White-House conference where his forceful denial later became one of the best-known sound bites of all time. “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.” This quote is even featured in a song by G-eazy, called Monica Lewinsky, inspired by the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. Sound bites can be dangerous in the media, especially because the media is relentless and will use these tactics to convey important information to the public.
For the next several months, and throughout the summer, the media debated whether or not an affair had occurred and whether or not Clinton had lied or obstructed justice. Nothing could be definitively established because Monica Lewinsky refused to discuss the affair at the time. In regards to the 2000 presidential election, the scandal had negatively affected future campaigns for the Democratic Party and polling showed that the scandal continued to affect Clinton’s low personal approval ratings through the election.
This is a monumental time in history where times have changed, and haven’t changed back. This represents a critical moment in both the polarization of the country and the line between personal and media coverage. Technology is the essential factor in media coverage and is a catalyst to the process of news traveling via the internet. As a result, the digitally native generation has no idea what’s been lost to the freedom of intimacy that has no fear of being recorded, and sometimes the unanticipated consequences that follow it.
The scandal of Monica Lewinsky reminds us how the death of privacy started, and how when the press was at the peak of their power surge they took advantage of a news story that changed the world of the media forever.
Emily Elconin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewinsky_scandal
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/10/20/how-monica-lewinsky-changed-politics/
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/09/how-monica-lewinsky-changed-the-media.html
Evolution of News Media 