**Take the survey yourself** see how the opinions of cjr web visitors compare to our editor's survey Question: What grade would you give to the overall press coverage of the Monica Lewinsky Scandal?: A   B   C   D   F

* About six out of ten senior journalists give the press a high grade (A or B) for its coverage of the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky White House scandal, but well over a third firmly believe the profession deserves a lowly C, D, or F for its performance.

* Only about a tenth of journalists plan to change the way they cover public officials' private lives as a result of the Lewinsky story.

* Almost two-thirds of journalists think that many promising and effective office-holders have been driven from public life by intense press scrutiny of their personal lives.

* But well over half disagree with the notion that journalists' own personal lives, including their sexual behavior, should be held to the same high moral standards as those applied to political officials.

Those are a few of the findings in a Columbia Journalism Review national poll of 125 senior journalists, the first in a new, continuing feature aimed at probing how print and electronic news people feel about major issues facing them in an increasingly turbulent period for the press.

The poll was conducted in conjunction with Public Agenda, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization. It was confidential, but more than four out of ten respondents agreed to follow-up telephone interviews to elaborate on their answers. Many others contributed brief essays to flesh out their answers.

part 1: what grade would you give the scandal coverage?
part 2: are we driving people from public life?
part 3: has the story been overplayed?
part 4: when should politicians be fair game?
part 5: should journalists be scrutinized?
part 6: will coverage change?

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