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| THE FRENZY ABOUT ELIAN | |
 April 4, 2000 
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Media correspondent Terence Smith takes a look at the media's fascination
with the story of 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez. The NewsHour Media Unit is funded by a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts.
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The story began last Thanksgiving Day, when young Elian Gonzalez was found clinging to an inner tube in the waters off Florida. His mother and others had perished at sea during their escape from Cuba. This was the media circus back in January outside the house where 6-year-old Elian has been staying with his relatives in the Little Havana section of Miami. Here is the same scene this week. The crowd of onlookers has grown in size and passion, and the national media continue to cover the story around the clock. Reporters and talk show hosts on the ground explain why they are there. |
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| Coverage is part of the controversy | ||||||||||||||||||||
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CHRIS MATTHEWS, Anchor, CNBS & MSNBC "Hardball:" If there wasn't a Fidel Castro, the mother would have come here on a passport, not on a raft, right? So these players are all important. If there wasn't a mother who died getting a kid here, we wouldn't have the human passion that obviously has been aroused here. A mother dies getting a kid over here, and we're going to flip him back across the modern equivalent of the Berlin Wall? KATHY MOSS, Correspondent, CBS News: The fact that we see a little boy, a sweet little boy with a sweet little face who's playing on swings each day, who is smiling through it all, through this, you know, ugly, bitter custody battle, makes the story even more compelling. TERENCE SMITH: Some of the coverage, such as ABC's "Good Morning America's" visit with the boy, has become part of the controversy. It was aired over three mornings last week on "Good Morning America," and on a segment of the ABC newsmagazine "20/20."
TERENCE SMITH: ABC originally said it would not air that exchange so as to avoid becoming part of the political struggle. Executives then decided to run with it. The network dubbed the Sawyer-Elian exchange a visit, rather than an interview, to defuse perceptual and potential legal problems. But some critics have assailed the encounter as nothing less than child abuse. MODERATOR: Dr. Butterworth in Los Angeles has said, quote -- of this
interview -- called it "nothing short of psychological and political
exploitation of a helpless victim." TERENCE SMITH: This political cartoon was distributed outside ABC News by Cuban American groups demonstrating against the interview and for the return of Elian to his father. And this political cartoon from the Miami Herald reflects the battle being fought over the youngster. One Miami station covering the stalemate even drew bomb threats from Cuban exiles when it suggested that Elian had said he would like to return to Cuba. While local coverage from has been predictably exhaustive, stations as far north and culturally removed as Boston have dispatched reporters to cover the story.
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| Feeding frenzy or justified attention? | ||||||||||||||||||||
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TERENCE SMITH: Some critics see this scene as a feeding frenzy. Others defend it as the kind of blanket coverage a big story warrants. In either case, it has been extensive: Some 51 minutes of network coverage last week alone, according to the independent Tyndall Report. ANCHOR: The bitter custody fight got even nastier today. TERENCE SMITH: All told, Elian's story got double the network time devoted to soaring oil prices, triple that of the tornadoes in Texas, and four times the coverage of the gyrating stock market. ANCHOR: It's a mess, the battle of the fate over Elian Gonzalez certainly is going to drag on into at least another week -- providing still more grist for the mills of the radio talk shows.
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TERENCE
SMITH: The picture of innocence, a young boy scampering with his puppy.
American media love kid stories, but of course what you are actually
witnessing is a grownup tale of international politics and fierce family
infighting. 
ANCHOR:
"Would you like your dad to come visit here?" we asked. He
whispers, "No." "No," we ask, "why not?"
He answers, "Because he'll take me to Cuba and I don't want to
go to Cuba." 
REPORTER:
It was a day of wrangling behind the scenes and in front of the cameras.
TERENCE
SMITH: The coverage seems unlikely to diminish until there is some sort
of resolution of the standoff. In the meantime, Elian got a new pet
for Easter, and the omnipresent cameras got a fresh subject on which
to focus. 
