Contextual Analysis of ABC’s Good Morning America Exclusive Interview with Elian Gonzalez

by Duc Nguyen

Cuban protested for the return of Elian Gonzalez from Havana.

Regarded as an unethical piece of television journalism during the Elian Gonzalez case, ABC’s Good Morning America interview with the six-year-old Cuban boy by Diane Sawyer ventures deeply into shaping news as entertainment. By doing so, the show brings much criticism. Despite the outcries from Fidel Castro and other network executives, the broadcast still draw big rating. ABC breaks not only the integrity of all journalistic standards, they constructs the show into a framework which push forward the American-liberal capitalist ideology.

The news report, displayed in front of millions home, mainly aims to persuade the American public to compel for the boy’s stay in United States. Its intention is to inflame the anti-communism sentiment and enforces the dominant American ideology as the heaven of the world. ABC insinuates that United States is the refuge that Elian ought to be in. Portraying themselves as a righteous savior interfering against the action of the American government to protect the boy from returning him to the oppressive regime of Fidel Castro, Sawyer and the producers of the show wear the role of hero journalist intervening on the behalf of a helpless child. The show uses an adage notion of good doer helping vulnerable victim from the…