Hello and welcome to this day, a history show from Radiotopia. My name is Jody Avergan.

It's 50 Weeks that shaped America, Week 10, Part 2, 1998. What are the numbers can I throw at our listeners to confuse them?

But look, listeners, here we are.

I'm not here to confuse.

I'm here to pick up the story of Bill Clinton, Monica Lewinsky,

Linda Tripp, Ken Starr, Scandal, Internet News, Matt Drudge, and lots more.

Before we reset where we are in the story here, as always, Nicole Hammer of Vanderbilt

and Kelly Carter Jackson of Wellesley.

Hello there.

Hello, Jody. Hey there. So last episode, we talked about how the affair between Lewinsky and

Clinton started in November of 95 during a government shutdown, how it lasted all the way through

96 into the very beginning of 97. And then over the course of 97, a slow trickle of information and

depositions and scandal about it, it then explodes into the public in January of 98. We talked

about the Drudge Report having broken it online and then all the legacy media having to

scramble. And we mentioned that there was a kind of new dynamic here between the

world of online journalism and what we would often call traditional outlets like newspaper and the

networks. And of course, in all of this, there's also cable news, especially since this was a

GOP-driven scandal in many ways, Fox News is a huge force, and that is where I want to start.

The first time we've really dug into the role of Fox News in American politics and culture during this series.

And I don't know, Nikki, it's not like Fox News's legacy media at this point.

So, like in the grand scheme of things, are they, like, the new kids on the block still?

Or are they closer to Drudge and the online shit kickers? Or are they more, you know, traditional media?

...