Fox Sports' ERIN ANDREWS yesterday "testified in the fifth day of her civil trial" in which she is seeking $75M from Nashville Marriott at Vanderbilt Univ. for being illegally videotaped through the peephole in her hotel room, according to Stacey Barchenger in a special to USA TODAY. Andrews described how she "had to convince the public, even the FBI, that the video was not a publicity stunt." To jurors’ "rapt attention she described how media stories about the video humiliated and embarrassed her," as well as how "a picture of her naked with black bars across her body appeared on the front page" of the N.Y. Post. She also discussed "her decision to file the civil lawsuit." She said, "This trial has obviously brought everything back. This is like it was the first week it happened" (USA TODAY, 3/1). In DC, Des Bieler writes Andrews "grew tearful several times while she recounted her reaction" to the events of '08 and '09. An episode she described while on the stand "raises questions for ESPN, her employer at the time of the events." Andrews said that ESPN "would not let her return to her job as a sideline reporter until she sat for an on-air interview, all the better to dispel suspicions that she had staged the whole thing in order to gain greater publicity." In addition, ESPN "suggested that the venue for Andrews’s interview be 'Good Morning America' on ABC, one of its sister networks." Instead, she "chose to go on OPRAH WINFREY’s show" (WASHINGTON POST, 3/1).
