The scoop fell on the conservative American blog The Drudge Report on January 17, 1998 at 9:32:20 p.m., so there are just 25 years. The new media, accustomed to the aggregation of information produced by other sources, had just unearthed a whole, summarized by the title in capitals “NEWSWEEK KILLS STORY ON WHITE HOUSE INTERN”.
Two hours later, the bomb fell with many details: “A White House intern had a sexual affair with the President of the United States! »
The young woman in her early twenties was named. It was Monica Lewinsky, who in spite of herself gave her name to the “Lewinsky affair”, also known as Monicagate. The media and essayists have forged other derivatives (Zippergate, Tailgate or Sexgate) referring to Watergate, which had led to an impeachment procedure and the resignation in extremis of President Nixon 20 years earlier.
Lewinskygate also triggered a procedure of ” impeachment of the adulterous President, Bill Clinton, and considerably damaged the smooth running of the government at the start of his second term. The shock waves of this news item which caused a diversion are still being felt today.
“It’s much more than a news item,” continues Karine Prémont, professor at the School of Applied Politics at the University of Sherbrooke and deputy director of the Observatory on the United States of the Raoul-Dandurand Chair of UQAM. She published a full chapter on the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal in her book Major American political affairs (Northeast, 2019).
“The triggering of the dismissal procedure was exceptional, even if the phenomenon may be less so in the coming years, adds the professor. The affair also marks the rather spectacular illustration of the partisan division and the vendetta against the Clintons which was beginning at that time. Republicans are going to spend a lot of money and spend a lot of time on this story. »
The end justifies the means
Newt Gingrich, elected from Georgia and Speaker of the House of Representatives, then piloted the “Republican revolution” which would put an end to four decades of Democratic majority. An unscrupulous pragmatist, he was able to use any ammunition at his disposal to bring down the adversary, including hypocritically adopting a position one day and promptly changing it the next. He has also admitted that he himself was engaged in an extramarital affair with one of his employees when he was leading the impeachment procedure for President Clinton.
“Gingrich and other Republicans were tired of always being losers,” said the United States specialist. He was one of the first to say that all means were good to win and that it was therefore necessary to use all the tools available. »
For example, multiplying the filibusters in the chamber or the accusations of corruption against the Democrats. Another example is using the Congressional Proceedings Broadcast Channel (C-SPAN), founded in 1979, to relay accusatory speeches, and the Internet to spread rumors and fake news.
Professor Prémont speaks bluntly of “media swelling”. Nine out of ten Americans supported Bill Clinton in the turmoil, even those who condemned him morally for his infidelity. The president even retained public support throughout the impeachment proceedings, which proved he lied about the nature of his relationship with Mme Lewinsky.
The power of the then-expanding web must also be considered. The new ones pure players were already making editorial decisions different from the old media, without ethical scruples. A situation exposed from the very first mention of the scoopwhich pointed out that the magazine Newsweek had refused to publish what the Drudge Report was going to spread in the world public square.
“Traditional media waited for all the certainties before publishing their stories,” says Nadia Seraiocco, digital media specialist, lecturer at the School of Media and member of the Institute for Research and Feminist Studies of the ‘UQAM. Digital media began to afford a little more in the late 1990s. And now, with social media, news gets published even faster. »
The sensational, scabrous stories, people and others are also now taken up and commented on by almost everyone. The race for clicks online, coupled with the outburst in commentary, has “tabloidized” the media, including some reputedly the most serious. Does the Depp-Heard trial mean anything to you?
A man of power
Decanted with pure sugar, the Clinton-Lewinsky case is indeed a sex scandal as it exists everywhere. However, Professor Prémont once again underlines a break in the scale with established practices.
President Kennedy was cheating on his wife, and the press knew it, but didn’t talk about it. Gary Hart, favorite for the Democratic nomination in 1988, had been forced to give up the race (and his career) after the revelation of an extramarital affair. Another 10 years and the great charge reached a president in office.
Bill Clinton was not impeached, but he paid with his reputation for the publicity of this story. His wife, Hillary, has been criticized for not having left her husband and for having awkwardly asserted until very recently that Monica Lewinsky was a consenting adult in this story, however underpinned by relations of power with the most powerful man in the world, which was not his first prank.
In fact, Monica Lewinsky was the first victim. At the time, the young woman was treated to the worst insults and caricatures. She was accused of being manipulative, even pushy, and of providing commissioned sexual services to bring down the president. It took her nearly two decades to regain control of her life and the message about her.
“When Monica Lewinsky started speaking again a few years ago, when she regained control of her reputation and her identity, she spoke of an abuse of power, says Ms.me Seraiocco. I can’t imagine today that we would talk about it in the same way. I’m about the same age as her. At the time, it was blurry for me. Today, I see better the vulnerability in this type of relationship. She thought she was in a romantic relationship, while she felt admiration for the president, who is nearly 30 years older than her. »
In short, the case predates the #MeToo movement, before the paradigm shift around harassment and consent. Do not believe that the world has changed: Donald Trump was elected president after accusations of assault, after making sexist and misogynistic remarks.