Bill Clinton's former Press Secretary told an audience in Bermuda yesterday that increasing time pressure is causing both Press and spin doctors to put out inaccurate information.

And Joseph Lockhart told the audience at the American Magazine Conference at the Southampton Princess that Clinton had taken as much heat for his indiscretion with Monica Lewinsky as Richard Nixon had for using Government for criminal activities.

"They were covered the same way -- there was a moral equivalency.'' He said: "It has to do with this ability to report 24 hours a day.'' Mr. Lockhart said what was news at 2 p.m. was old hat by 6 p.m.

He recalled one incident where it was reported some of the Democrats were thinking of going to the President and telling him he had to resign.

"By four the story was the White House was thinking about it and by six it was the President was thinking about resigning.

"None of this was ever the case but there was no way of stopping this. There was no way to put the genie back in the bottle.'' He said winning the battle for the news cycle put pressure on Press spokesmen to respond without the benefit of the full facts.

He said: "More importantly the fight for every news cycle leaves politics and Government dangerously shortsighted, sacrificing real, long-term solutions for easy fixes which look good on the news.'' He said during the Monica Lewinsky scandal a Wall Street Journal reporter had called to confirm some Grand Jury testimony -- Mr. Lockhart then returned the call to deny the story.

He said: "The reporter responded somewhat sheepishly and said it's too late, we have already posted that story on the website.

"The pressure to be first by a few minutes, even a few seconds meant that a reputable newspaper had to issue an embarrassing retraction.'' And he decried a growing emphasis on speculation rather than fact. He cited a New York Times article which had downplayed a story about how the candidates would tackle social security reform while a speculative article using unnamed sources about the relationship between the President and the Vice President made it to page one.

But changing technology would eventually make reporters more accurate and more relevant and will allow people to shop for the news on the web and force politicians to provide a better service, said Mr. Lockhart.

He told the audience about his most exciting day in the White House -- December 19, 1998 -when the House of Representatives impeached the President, the bombing campaign against Iraq was concluded and the would-be Speaker of the House resigned live on television over his own marital infidelity putting pressure on Clinton himself to follow suit.

Clever footwork by Clinton himself averted the crisis as his self-penned press statement argued against the politics of personal destruction as he urged Bob Livingstone to stay put.

An colleague later joked when the hectic day was over: "Apart for getting impeached we had a pretty good day.'' Mr. Lockhart said Ralph Nader's intervention in the current presidential race could make the difference in the tight contest between Bush and Gore as he could take vital votes in North Western States.

He said: "We could spend election day talking about the candidate we have spent very little time talking about.'' And he likened the battle between the two main contenders as similar to a college presidential race with Gore being the guy with all the details including the hours the college library was open while Bush was the most popular guy who "knew where all the best keg parties are''.

He said the two candidates represented a clear choice and the style of the winner would then define how other people subsequently ran their campaigns.