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| BEYOND THE BELTWAY | |
 January 18, 1999 
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JIM LEHRER: Media Correspondent Terence Smith begins our coverage of the impeachment trial, as viewed beyond Washington.
CHIEF JUSTICE REHNQUIST: The Senate will convene as a court of impeachment. |
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| Impeachment trial coverage. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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ANNOUNCER: This is an NBC News special report: The trial of William Jefferson Clinton. TERENCE SMITH: NBC interrupted its regular programming at the trial's start, as did ABC and CBS. But momentous history doesn't necessarily make memorable television. CBS bailed out of its coverage just 90 minutes after the trial began with a pledge that -
TERENCE SMITH: ABC followed suit, while Tom Brokaw handed the live coverage of the trial over to Brian Williams and NBC's cable outlet, MSNBC. By day two, the networks returned to their regular and lucrative daytime programming, soap operas. On the weekend, the trial lost out to local fare, including the Saturday morning - |
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| Weekend coverage. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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("WINNIE THE POOH") MUSIC: Pooh Bear, Winnie the Pooh Bear. TERENCE SMITH: But for those following every word, PBS provided gavel-to- gavel coverage, as did the all-news cable channels and C-Span. Across the country, the impeachment juggernaut led most evening broadcasts, network and local. CORRESPONDENT: The political career of Bill Clinton takes on a new significance as his impeachment trial gets under way in the U.S. Senate.
TERENCE SMITH: But in other parts of the U.S., Bill Clinton's troubles came second to important local stories. CORRESPONDENT: Two people are injured and the suspect is in custody. And that shooting is our top story tonight. CORRESPONDENT: Family and friends of missing Monterey County teenager Christina Williams were shattered today to learn -
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| The Senate hits the talk show circuit. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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SEN. PATRICK LEAHY: Have you ever seen 100 senators sit quietly, attentively? I mean, nobody's in there signing their mail or anything else. They're actually paying attention. SEN. PHIL GRAMM: It seems to me that the case is pretty ironclad; that if you commit perjury and obstruction of justice, you should be removed from office, whether you are president, whether you're a federal judge, or whether you're a federal magistrate.
REP. BILL McCOLLUM: If the case stopped today, there's a powerful case that that is precisely what the president did-- committed perjury and obstructed justice. SEN. ROBERT TORRICELLI: I want to remind you that the House Managers argued persuasively that the President's testimony in the Paula Jones deposition was at variance with the truth. I think they did an admirable job. Their problem is that the Paula Jones deposition is not before the Senate.
TERENCE SMITH: It all resumes again tomorrow, when the President's attorneys get their chance to answer that and the other questions that have been raised in the trial so far. |
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TERENCE
SMITH: For the last five days, one story above all has dominated the
nation's media.
TERENCE
SMITH: The capitol hill press galleries were humming from the first
moments of the trial of President Clinton. The senate hallways served
as the backdrop for nearly non-stop interviews, while television correspondents
prepared their live shots from cramped cubicles. And the networks treated
the trial as certified big news.
ANCHOR:
If news breaks out, we'll break in. We're back on the air. Otherwise,
I'll see you tonight on the CBS Evening News. 
CORRESPONDENT:
Good evening. House managers are outlining their case against President
Clinton, listing the reasons why they believe he should be removed from
office. 
TERENCE
SMITH: The nation's larger newspapers led with the trial. But the Arizona
Daily Star headlined a story on a massive border buildup in Nogales.
The Senate trial was below the fold. For the Savannah Morning News,
state approval for a charter school was the big story. Coverage of the
President's predicament failed to make page one. By Sunday morning,
the Senators, who were compelled to sit mute through the testimony,
were making up for lost time. Nearly a fifth of the entire United States
Senate popped up as guests on the television talk shows. 
SEN.
TOM HARKIN: I think Henry Hyde's closing argument yesterday really showed
what this case was: Excess, overreach. He tried to compare what we're
about to Normandy, Iwo Jima, the Magna Carta, for crying out loud, Gettysburg.
Talk about overblowing and excess. 
SEN.
KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON: I think it is a very powerful case that we've
got to look at, whether the President of the United States has a different
standard from the C.E.O. of a corporation, or a federal judge.