Clinton: The Elian Fray

By Stephen M. Silverman

Monday September 28, 1998 12:00 AM EDT

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As U.S. attorney general Janet Reno was preparing to retrieve Elian Gonzalez from his Miami relatives and return him to his father, President Clinton said of the Cuban shipwreck survivor's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez: "I think he should be reunited with his son. That is the law and the main argument of the family in Miami for not doing so has now been removed." Clinton made his remarks to reporters on Thursday, the same day that Juan Miguel had asked Americans to write Clinton and Janet Reno to pressure them to make the reunion a reality. Juan Miguel, who has yet to see his son since he arrived in the U.S. two weeks ago, wants to return with his son to Cuba. On Wednesday, a federal appeals court in Atlanta ruled that Elian must remain on American soil until Elian's custody is resolved.

• According to an analysis of network news coverage of the Elian saga by the Center for Media and Public Affairs, from Thanksgiving through April 13, ABC, CBS and NBC ran 216 stories on L'affaire Elian. That number surpasses coverage of the deaths of Diana (200 stories), JFK Jr. (161) and JonBenet Ramsey (84). Only the O.J. Simpson trial was more visible, with 431 stories.