No Big Deal

Daytime television queen Oprah Winfrey said Tuesday that negotiations to bring Monica Lewinsky on her syndicated show fell apart over money. “I do not pay for interviews, no matter what the payment is called,” Winfrey said. In a competitive TV world, landing the first in-depth talk with the woman President Clinton had an affair with would be the year’s biggest coup. After talking with Lewinsky’s representatives, Winfrey said, she was led to believe she was the one. But an hour later, Lewinsky’s representatives called back and started talking about who would own the rights to sell a tape of the interview in international markets. “My feeling was that giving up the rights was just someone else paying the check,” Winfrey said. “That was really the turning point.”