CLICK & DOUBLE CLICK: INTERNET PLAYS KEY ROLE IN PRESIDENT CLINTON CONTROVERSY

What a week for the Internet. The release of the Starr Report and President Clinton's grand jury videotape put the Internet smack dab in the middle of this continuing controversy.

The pundits argued back and forth whether the Internet was an appropriate way to release such important information. In the end, it didn't matter. The Ken Starr report and president's two rebuttals were accessible at a number of Internet sites.

Joni: I listened to a National Public Radio commentator condemn the release via the Internet. He suggested it was wrong to release the report to the public without "proper context." That's ridiculous. I think a lot of people wanted to read the entire report, and Clinton's rebuttals and then judge for themselves. Information without endless analysis or excerpts -- what a concept.

Peggy: Let's start off with CNN, which has put up all of the testimony -- both text and videotape -- shortly after it was available.

www.cnn.com

Joni: If you missed the videotape you can access it all at CNN, along with the entire Starr Report and both White House rebuttals. The videotape is available in 10 segments -- ranging from 11 to 67 minutes. You need RealPlayer or Windows Media Player. Apparently CNN.com reported as many as 26,000 simultaneous viewers of the video Monday morning.

Peggy: And you have to have some patience about watching Clinton on a very, very small screen. You can make it bigger, but the image gets really distorted. That's one thing the Internet has to work on.

Joni: There's a lot of information and just weird stuff on this pretty traditional news site, including a small photo of "The Dress" from the grand jury evidence. This was part of additional evidence and photographs released Monday along with the videotape.

Peggy: MSNBC was another busy site for accessing both the grand jury text and video.

www.msnbc.com

Joni: A report on this site said that performance by key Internet routers was down by almost 50 percent from normal levels Monday because of the demand for the videotape via the Internet. Online bookseller Amazon.com also reported that a video version of the tape has been its top seller since Saturday.

Peggy: No wonder. Who has four hours to spend watching the tape? Certainly very few parents with little children.

Joni: You can also read the transcript of the testimony from the site. That's something a little more portable for busy people.

Peggy: MSNBC has several helpful interactive guides that review the players and chronology. There's an interesting, "He Said, She Said" section. Click on a question, like "Were Clinton and Lewinsky ever alone in the Oval Office?" and it provides the answers from "He" and "She."

Joni: There's no doubt that the Internet has had a tremendous impact on this entire controversy -- from the first news of Monica Lewinsky on The Drudge Report to the release of the entire report on many sites. C-Net, which specializes in covering the computer industry, has some interesting commentary on the impact this controversy has had on the Internet at its news site.

www.news.com

Peggy: C-Net points out that many sites are not only grappling with heavy, heavy traffic, they're coping with heavy ethical issues of whether to post everything.

Joni: I've read the entire report. It deserves a PG-13 rating.

Peggy: According to C-Net, a number of news organizations decided to release the video early Monday morning. Some sites will also post the additional 2,800 pages of additional evidence released with the videotape.

Joni: The Internet isn't limited by the traditional problems of space and time that shape daily news decisions. But the lack of regulation also means people can have their say -- whether it's factual or not.

Peggy: Since last Friday, many sites broke their traffic records. Usage at some where up 200 to 300 percent since last Friday. Many sites added both bandwidth and servers to deal with both the additional users and the large size of the video files.

Joni: The Drudge Report, considered an online gossip sheet centered on Washington politics, really started the ball rolling. Right or wrong, Matt Drudge released his information about Monica online, and other national news organizations soon followed.

www.drudgereport.com

Peggy: Of course the Clinton controversy tops his report. According to this site, one of the highlights of the testimony was the part where Clinton became "highly agitated" when he learned his relationship with Monica was "exposed" on the Matt Drudge Report.

Joni: Apparently Mr. Drudge doesn't mind the spotlight. Interesting enough, it was a little known online magazine that broke the story on an affair that the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee had 30 years ago.

www.salonmagazine.com

Peggy: Since Salon Magazine released its story last week, it has been deluged -- up to 75,000 hits a minute. The management has also received considerable feedback, including 5,000 e-mails to the editor and a bomb threat.

Joni: All in a day's work? Are these Internet tipsters more daring or unscrupulous? Probably a lot of both. They were both highly criticized by the traditional media for breaking the stories, and yet it didn't take long for everyone else to jump on the bandwagon.

Peggy: What's your favorite Internet source for political news? E-mail us at click@semissourian.com

See you in Cyberspace.

~Peggy Scott and Joni Adams are members of the Southeast Missourian online staff.