Editing Killing of Chandra Levy (section)

== Media coverage ==
The disappearance of Chandra Levy became a national topic of the news media in the summer of 2001,<ref name="AJR-200109">{{cite news|last=Wenner|first=Kathryn S.|url=http://www.ajr.org/article.asp?id=2845 |title=How the Chandra Levy Saga Took Off|journal=[[American Journalism Review]]|date=September 2001|access-date=November 29, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101119164725/http://ajr.org/Article.asp?id=2845|archive-date=November 19, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> with 63% of Americans closely following the case.<ref name="WP09-Frenzy"/> The media swamped Levy's parents from the moment they decided to go to Washington, D.C., in search of their daughter.<ref name="Nieman-Harvard">{{cite web|last=Petersen|first=Kim|title=The Chandra Levy Story: What does media coverage look and feel like from the other side?|url=http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/article/101639/The-Chandra-Levy-Story.aspx|publisher=[[Nieman Foundation for Journalism]]|date=Fall 2001|access-date=November 28, 2010|archive-date=June 11, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611141353/http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/article/101639/The-Chandra-Levy-Story.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref> According to Condit, about a hundred reporters were camped out in front of his apartment during the morning of September 11, 2001, but they all left after news spread about [[September 11 attacks|that day's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/nov/1/condit-mum-on-question-of-affair-with-intern-levy/?page=2|title=Condit mum on question of affair with Levy|newspaper=[[The Washington Times]]|first=Ben|last=Conery|date=November 1, 2010|access-date=November 29, 2010|archive-date=August 20, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110820101005/http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/nov/1/condit-mum-on-question-of-affair-with-intern-levy/?page=2|url-status=live}}</ref> Media critics and cable news executives later cited the Levy case, as well as the concurrent [[sensationalism|sensationalist]] coverage of a string of [[shark attack]]s, as a reflection of the manner of news coverage in the United States before the September 11 attacks had taken priority.<ref name="NYTimes-20020524-restraint">{{cite news|last=Rutenberg|first=Jim|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F01EEDB163BF937A15756C0A9649C8B63|title=Media Report: World Events Bring Restraint in Levy Case|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|page=A16|date=May 24, 2002|access-date=July 13, 2008|archive-date=August 27, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827192017/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/24/us/media-report-world-events-bring-restraint-in-levy-case.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="NYTimes-20080711-sharks">{{cite news|url=http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/dramatic-entrance-for-sharks/index.html|title=Like It's the Summer of 2001: Sharks and Chandra|newspaper=New York Times |first=Mike|last=Nizza|date=July 11, 2008|access-date=July 13, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080717042124/http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/dramatic-entrance-for-sharks/index.html |archive-date=July 17, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2002, D.C. newspaper ''[[Roll Call]]'' first reported Ingmar Guandique's possible connection to the case, with little effect on the news media's focus on Condit.<ref name="WP-20101128"/> Conservative commentator [[Michelle Malkin]] noted the lack of headlines that an illegal immigrant had been questioned in the Levy case. She said that in her review of 115 news items from the [[LexisNexis]] database, not a single mention of Guandique referred to his status as a "criminal [[illegal immigration|illegal alien]]". She called the "glaring omission" of his status "a newsworthy act of negligence". She wrote that only the very conservative ''[[Human Events]]'' reported that the [[Immigration and Naturalization Service]] had approved his working legally while he was applying for [[temporary protected status]]. That application was ultimately denied, but not before he had assaulted two other women at Rock Creek Park.<ref name="JWW-20020605-blinders">{{cite news|last=Malkin|first=Michelle|author-link=Michelle Malkin|title=The media's immigration blinders|url=http://www.jewishworldreview.com/michelle/malkin0060502.asp|publisher=[[Jewish World Review]]|date=June 5, 2002|access-date=November 23, 2010|archive-date=October 23, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101023143831/http://www.jewishworldreview.com/michelle/malkin0060502.asp|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2005, investigative journalist [[Dominick Dunne]] said on ''[[Larry King Live]]'' that he believed that Gary Condit had more information about the Levy case than he had been disclosing. Condit filed two lawsuits against Dunne, forcing him into an undisclosed financial settlement on one of them. In 2008, U.S. District Judge [[Peter K. Leisure|Peter Leisure]] dismissed the other suit that alleged [[slander]], because "The context in which Dunne's statements were made demonstrates that they were part of a discussion about "speculation" in the media and inaccurate media coverage".<ref name="Reuters-20080709"/>

During the summer of 2008, ''The Washington Post'' ran a 13-part series billed, in part, as "a tale of the tabloid and mainstream press pack journalism that helped derail the investigation". The two investigative reporters who were behind the ''Post'' series, [[Scott Higham]] and [[Sari Horwitz]], wrote a book which detailed their investigation. The book, ''[[Finding Chandra]]'', was published in May 2010.<ref name="Finding-Chandra-2010-piv">{{cite book|last=Higham|first=Scott|author2=Horwitz, Sari|title=Finding Chandra: A True Washington Murder Mystery|url=https://archive.org/details/findingchandratr00high|url-access=registration|page=iv|isbn=978-1-4391-3867-0|oclc= 430842090|publisher=Scribner|location=New York City|year=2010|access-date=November 29, 2010}}</ref> Commentators, including ''The Washington Post'' Metro reporter Robert Pierre, wrote that emphasis on a glamorous white murder victim, when "about 200 people are killed in this city every year, most of them black and male", was "absolutely absurd and dare I say, [[Racism|racist]], at its core".<ref name="WP-20080727-series">{{cite news|title=A 13-Part Series to Love or Hate|first=Deborah|last=Howell|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=July 27, 2008|page=B06|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/25/AR2008072502758.html|access-date=December 22, 2018|archive-date=December 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181214233151/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/25/AR2008072502758.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="WCP-20080722">{{cite news|title=''Post'' Reporter Hopes Protesters March on ''Post'' Building over Chandra Series|first=Erik|last=Wemple|author-link=Erik Wemple|newspaper=[[Washington City Paper]]|date=July 22, 2008|url=http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2008/07/22/post-reporter-hopes-protesters-march-on-post-building-over-chandra-series/|access-date=July 27, 2008|archive-date=July 27, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080727134133/http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2008/07/22/post-reporter-hopes-protesters-march-on-post-building-over-chandra-series/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The media was criticized for its "rush to judgment" in suggesting, sometimes blatantly, that Condit was guilty of the murder, especially in the early days of the investigation.<ref name="DK-20090222-better">{{cite news|last=Cohen|first=mark|title=With 20/20 Hindsight, Condit Story Was Better Than Truth|url=http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/2/22/700629/-With-20-20-Hindsight,-Condit-Story-Was-Better-Than-Truth|publisher=[[Daily Kos]]|date=February 22, 2009|access-date=November 5, 2010|archive-date=June 7, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607224655/http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/2/22/700629/-With-20-20-Hindsight,-Condit-Story-Was-Better-Than-Truth|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="LADN-20090222-rush">{{cite news|last=Perrier|first=Phil|title=Was There a Rush To Judgment?|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/WAS+THERE+A+RUSH+TO+JUDGMENT%3F-a0149874106|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Daily News]]|date=August 21, 2006|access-date=November 5, 2010|archive-date=October 13, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013135120/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/WAS+THERE+A+RUSH+TO+JUDGMENT%3F-a0149874106|url-status=dead}}</ref> Some of the reporters who were camped out in front of Condit's Washington apartment house were quoted as saying that they would remain there "until he resigns".<ref name="RMA-20011001">{{cite news|title=Respect Mahh Authori-tay!!! |url=http://www.netcrucible.com/blog/2001/10/01/respect-mahh-authori-tay/|date=October 1, 2001|access-date=August 28, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201185119/http://www.netcrucible.com/blog/2001/10/01/respect-mahh-authori-tay/|archive-date=December 1, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="MRC-20010822">{{cite news |last=Bozell III|first=L. Brent|title=Is This a Condit Country?|url=http://www.mediaresearch.org/BozellColumns/newscolumn/2001/col20010822.asp|publisher=[[Media Research Center]]|date=August 22, 2001|access-date=November 5, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608165125/http://www.mediaresearch.org/BozellColumns/newscolumn/2001/col20010822.asp|archive-date=June 8, 2011}}</ref> When Ingmar Guandique was convicted of murdering Levy in November 2010, Condit's lawyer Bert Fields remarked, "It's a complete vindication but that comes a little late. Who gives him his career back?"<ref name ="USAToday-20101122-convicts">{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-11-22-chandra-levy-verdict_N.htm|title=Jury convicts Guandique of murdering Chandra Levy|newspaper=USA Today|date=November 22, 2010|access-date=November 22, 2010|first1=Oren|last1=Dorell|archive-date=November 25, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125071949/http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-11-22-chandra-levy-verdict_N.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

On the 17th anniversary of the homicide, Levy's mother continued to push for further investigation into her daughter's death.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.11alive.com/article/news/investigations/gone-cold/chandra-levys-mom-hopes-petition-will-spark-new-law-for-investigating-cold-cases/85-584824917|title=Chandra Levy's mom hopes petition will spark new law for investigating cold cases|date=August 16, 2018 |access-date=December 22, 2018|archive-date=August 27, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827192016/https://www.11alive.com/article/news/investigations/gone-cold/chandra-levys-mom-hopes-petition-will-spark-new-law-for-investigating-cold-cases/85-584824917|url-status=live}}</ref>

An episode of the podcast [[You're Wrong About]] released on May 25, 2020, reviewed the events surrounding her disappearance and the search for her.<ref>{{Citation |title=The Disappearance of Chandra Levy |date=2020-05-25 |url=https://open.spotify.com/episode/62UwFcuMfr9XHCUL6mxeQr |access-date=2023-03-13 |language=en}}</ref>