Is media 2017 really handling civil discourse better than media 1998 tho

A strange old link for a strange old Monday — “I dated Monica Lewinsky,” by Jake Tapper (Yep, that one) from the Washington City Paper in 1998 (H/t Allie Owens for the link!). Published almost 20 years (/what feels like a thousand geologic periods) ago, and yet, something about it feels queasily familiar, as if it was just lifted off a Twitter thread this morning.
Is it the references to a scandal-driven feeding frenzy that never ends? The confessional/moralizing hot take tone that comes a dime a dozen in an average Medium browse sesh? Or maybe it’s the fact that even in 2017, we the media still haven’t come that much farther from being able to talk about controversial women without dragging them through veritable mud pits for the sake of the clicks & takes.
Or have we? As someone who was a literal bb when this all happened in real life, I definitely lack the context for judging this, so I'm SUPER interested in perspectives from people who actually had cognitive function and motor skills when the more OG presidential scandals were happening.
Like Deez Links? Forward to media 2037 and ask them how it’s going.