Lewinsky Tapes TV Interview

A date for televising Barbara Walters' interview with Monica Lewinsky will be unveiled Monday by ABC News.

Barbara Walters and ABC News President David Westin have scheduled a news conference to announce a date for the broadcast.

Walters' interview is expected to air over 90 minutes in prime time on March 3, the final day of a television "sweeps" period used to set local advertising rates.

But the network also was considering an earlier broadcast, an ABC executive, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Walters is expected to detail how ABC worked within restrictions placed on the interview by Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel who investigated President Clinton and his affair with Lewinsky, the one-time White House intern.

Lewinsky reportedly wasn't supposed to make statements going beyond what she has already told Starr's office and a grand jury. Guards were posted outside the studio Saturday when Lewinsky talked with Walters.

Walters' landing of the Lewinsky interview was considered one of the biggest TV news coups of the presidential scandal. Its impact, however, may have been diminished by Lewinsky's videotaped testimony during the Senate impeachment trial. The ending of that trial and Mr. Clinton's exoneration also may be a factor in decreasing public interest.

Walters won the interview in November, but Lewinsky couldn't talk until Starr granted his permission. Starr gave an interview that month to Walters' ABC colleague, Diane Sawyer.

Lewinsky had talked with Oprah Winfrey about an interview earlier last fall, but Winfrey said she had broken off talks when it became clear the former intern wanted to be compensated for the interview. ABC said it had not paid for its interview.

Roseanne had offered to pay Lewinsky more than $1 million if she answered questions on the former sitcom star's struggling syndicated talk show.