One Scandalous Story

Clinton, Lewinsky, and Thirteen Days That Tarnishe

Marvin Kalb

• Publisher: Free Press
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9781416576372
• eBook ISBN: 9781439136300
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Social Sciences

In 1963 Marvin Kalb observed the Secret Service escorting an attractive woman into a hotel for what was most likely a rendezvous with President Kennedy. Kalb, then a news correspondent for CBS, didn't consider the incident newsworthy. Thirty-five years later, Kalb watched in dismay as the press dove headfirst into the scandal of President Clinton's affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, disclosing every prurient detail. How and why had the journalistic landscape shifted so dramatically? One Scandalous Story seeks to answer this critical question through the inside story of thirteen days -- January 13-25, 1998 -- that make up a vital chapter in the history of American journalism. In riveting detail, Kalb examines just how the media covered the Lewinsky scandal, offering what he calls an "X-ray of the Washington press corps." Drawing on hundreds of original interviews, Kalb allows us to eavesdrop on the incestuous deals between reporters and sources, the bitter disagreements among editors, the machination of moguls for whom news is Big Business, and above all, the frantic maneuvering to break the story. With fresh insight, he retraces decisions made by Michael Isikoff of Newsweek, Internet renegade Matt Drudge, Jackie Judd of ABC, Clinton-basher Lucianne Goldberg, Susan Schmidt of The Washington Post, Jackie Bennett of the Office of the Independent Counsel, and other key players in this scandal that veered from low comedy to high drama.Through the lens of those thirteen turbulent days, Kalb offers us a portrait of the "new news" in all its contradictions. He reveals how intense economic pressures in the news business, the ascendancy of the Internet, the blurring of roles between reporters and commentators, and a surge of dubious sourcing and "copy-cat journalism" have combined to make tabloid-style journalism increasingly mainstream. But are we condemned to a resurgence of "yellow journalism"? Painstakingly documented and sobering in its conclusions, One Scandalous Story issues a clarion call to newsmakers and the American public alike: "Journalism can change for the better -- and must."

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• CONTENTS
• PREFACE ANDACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• INTRODUCTIONScandal in the News Then and Now
• CHAPTER 1 WHITEWATER WHERE ITALL BEGAN
• CHAPTER 2 A PLAYER IN THESCANDAL CIRCUSJanuary 13 15 1998
• CHAPTER 3 “SOMETHING ABOUT PERJURY”January 16 1998
• CHAPTER 4 AN INCREDIBLE SEVEN HOUR DIALOGUE January 17 1998
• CHAPTER 5 ENTER MR DRUDGEJanuary 18 1998
• CHAPTER 6 THE GATHERING STORMJanuary 19 1998
• CHAPTER 7 THE GINSBURG QUOTEJanuary 20 1998
• CHAPTER 8 ONE SEXY SCOOPJanuary 21 1998
• CHAPTER 9 STAMPEDEJanuary 22 1998
• CHAPTER 10 GREENROOM CHATTERBOXESJanuary 23 1998
• CHAPTER 11 “BREAKING NEWS”January 24 1998
• CHAPTER 12 PEEKABOOJanuary 25 1998
• CHAPTER 13 GOSSIP MASQUERADES AS NEWS
• CHAPTER 14 NEEDED—A FEW GOOD MENAND WOMEN
• NOTES
• INDEX
• ABOUT THE AUTHOR