Lewinsky Scandal Changed the World

“Did you know there's not one kid who has died in Iraq who wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for Monica Lewinsky?” legendary 60 Minutes chief Don Hewitt told journalist Carol Felsenthal in 2006. “I think Monica did more to change the world than Cleopatra.” It was just 20 years ago this January that the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke and forced traditional print and broadcast news media, for the first time, to compete and deal with the rising phenomenon of Internet journalism, as reflected in the emergence of Matt Drudge. As we look back from today's media circus of sexual assault and gender politics, from the shocking revelations about Harvey Weinstein, Bill O'Reilly, Kevin Spacey, Bill Cosby, Roy Moore, and even Donald Trump, we can see that Don Hewitt wasn't kidding.