Elian is far from first child to fuel media frenzy

April 4, 2000
Web posted at: 5:06 p.m. EDT (2106 GMT)

In this story: Legal arguments come alive Coverage intensifies RELATED STORIES, SITES

From Correspondent Garrick Utley

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Elian Gonzalez may be the proverbial pawn in a political struggle, but the 6-year-old Cuban boy has also achieved what diplomats, ideologues and special interest groups have failed to do. He has put a specific human face on what many consider to be a distant issue: The 40-year U.S.-Cuban conflict.

The clash between democracy and communism has been boiled down to a battle over Elian's future.

	VIDEO
CNN's Garrick Utley puts the media fascination with Elian Gonzalez into historical context. (April 3) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K

It's not the first time one person, particularly a child, has brought a complex story to the forefront of public attention.

Long before 24-hour news channels, and even television itself, the power of a single person in a compelling narrative to attract national attention has been part of journalistic life, and not simply because of some dramatic sensation.

Baby M was once such a case. After a surrogate mother gave birth to a girl, she decided she wanted to keep the baby. The couple that had contracted for the child went to court and won custody.

Character and conflict, the unchanging essence of a story, are what made the legal arguments come alive.

However, critics charge that often a human face and tragedy do not illuminate anything, but are used by the media to generate public interest and audiences.

Long before there was the JonBenet Ramsey epic, there was an even greater sensation -- the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the baby of Charles and Anne Lindbergh.

For four years, newspaper readers and radio listeners were transfixed by the hunt for the murderer. Then came the trial, conviction and execution of Bruno Hauptman for the crime.

Before that case, there was the 1906 murder of famed architect Stanford White by Harry Thaw, as portrayed in the book and movie "Ragtime." Thaw shot White for having an affair with his wife.

This story had fame, glamour, wealth and sex -- potent ingredients of celebrity crime that do not fade with time.

What has changed is not the public interest in a dramatic or tragic human story, rather the intensity of the news coverage of it.

From talk radio to television talk shows, the sheer density of near nonstop reporting and debate can push a lot of other news off the television screen, making the "big" story inescapable.

It has happened again and again as journalists rediscovered the power of an event that can push the emotional buttons of readers and viewers.

In the end, it is not just about fame or celebrity, but about life.

It is about the rescue of an 18-month-old child named Jessica, which focused the nation's attention on an abandoned well in 1987.

It is about the fight over how to "rescue" Elian today.

For a 6-year-old boy, is political freedom more important than a father?

One of life's questions made vivid by the human factor.

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