[OG Note: Y'all might have noticed I didn't post anything on this story until the evidence of a Condit cover-up became very strong. Now that Condit has admitted he lied about the relationship and Ms. Smith has charged that Condit wanted her to swear that there was no relationship, the story has gone beyond tabloid. The story is that a Congressman baldly lied to save his reputation (and job) and tried to persuade someone else to lie. I don't know if Condit had a hand in Ms. Levy's disappearance--we may never know. But I DO know the SOB lied and, Bill Clinton notwithstanding, I don't believe we should accept it as part of a politician's personality.]

USA Today

Page 6D

Inside TV

By Peter Johnson

CBS keeps Chandra off its evening news Want the latest news on the disappearance of Washington intern Chandra Levy?

You won't find it on The CBS Evening News, the lone network holdout when it comes to covering a story that is all over CBS' very own morning show, its two network evening news competitors and three cable news channels.

Wednesday, as NBC Nightly News and ABC's World News Tonight aired reports on the latest development -- the police search of the apartment belonging to Rep. Gary Condit, who has acknowledged an affair with Levy -- Evening News continued to ignore the story.

''I will cover it when I feel there is real news there,'' said News producer Jim Murphy. He says other networks are caving in to competitive pressure. ''It's a sexy and tawdry story and they feel they have to. I don't feel you have to cover it without evidence of a crime.''

''I am very comfortable with what we're doing,'' anchor Dan Rather said. ''We are applying our standards, not passing judgment on anyone else's.''

ABC's Nightline, aired its first report on the case Wednesday. Executive producer Leroy Sievers said, ''There was just too much out there'' to ignore. He said it was time to put the story in context by ''laying out everything ABC News knows about the case'' with a report by correspondent Pierre Thomas.

While NBC Nightly News has focused intensely on the case, ABC's World News Tonight didn't until Friday, when it interviewed Levy's aunt, Linda Zamsky. Since then, World News has aired several stories.

Meanwhile, cable news and network morning news programs continued Wednesday to focus heavily on the case. NBC's Today, ABC's Good Morning America and CBS' The Early Show have devoted a total of more than 140 minutes to the story since it broke.

Cable has devoted many more minutes, and with good reason, says CNN executive Sid Beddingfield.

''If you're not covering this, you're making a mistake in news judgment. You have a missing 24-year-old, and at the heart of the story you have a public figure. To me that means news, and since it's a compelling news story that has been moving day to day, it warrants significant coverage.''

Has Chandra Levy become cable television's latest fascination, à la Monica Lewinsky or O.J. Simpson? ''I don't think we've approached that at all,'' says Ramon Escobar, MSNBC's executive producer of live news. ''Our days are filled with other stories.''

But Robert Lichter of the Media Center for Public Affairs disagrees. He says this is the perfect cable news antidote for a slow news summer. ''They've been suffering from Monica withdrawal, and Chandra is their new nicotine patch. You mix sex, crime, power and mystery, and you have a cable news cocktail.''

-- Anonymous, July 12, 2001

Answers

Right, CBS. No inkling that a crime might be involved.

-- Anonymous, July 12, 2001