ABSTRACT

The usual newsmaker profile focuses on a new appointment or other newsworthy achievement by an individual thrust into the lime­ light. This is the news peg or nut graf for the profile. Something has happened recently to the individual to justify the attention. In addi­ tion to spot news stories about the decision and announcement, these profiles serve as sidebars. Editors use them because they believe their readers want to know more about the individual in the news. In early 1998, when a scandal broke suddenly involving President Clinton and a former White House intern, readers wanted to know more about the individuals involved, particularly the former intern, Monica Lewinsky of California, and her mentor, presidential friend and Washington lawyer Vernon Jordan. Although Jordan was known to many, he was not widely known. And the young woman involved was completely unknown. She had finished college and was 24 when the story broke, but there seemed to be an unquenchable thirst for infor­ mation about her early in the development of the breaking news story. To help introduce her to the public, many publications ran short bio­ graphical profiles of her. Some were used as sidebars to supplement the main news stories about the accusations. Working with just a few hours of time to prepare their short newsmaker profile, this is how Newsday reporters Shirley E. Perlman and Patrick J. Sloyan began their “who is she?” sidebar profile:

Monica Lewinsky, the 24-year-old woman at the center of the lat­ est sex allegations against President Bill Clinton, was described yesterday as a competent, hard-working young woman who re­ cently left her $32,700-a-year job at the Pentagon and hoped for a public relations career in New York.