Elian reunion draws intense Web coverage
News that Elian Gonzalez was reunited with his father spreads quickly on the Internet and draws instant, mixed reactions.
Sites including CNN, ABCNews.com, the Web edition of The New York Times and others carried news of the pre-dawn raid by U.S. agents, who took Elian from his Miami relatives' home and reunited him with his father near Washington, D.C.
The sites offered stories, photos, message boards, audio and even video of the action--another reminder of the Web's growing role as a source of breaking news. CNN provided a live chat with an immigration attorney regarding the case.
Some of the Web sites were slower than usual, a sign that the story was creating heavy traffic.
Message boards carried mixed reactions.
"I am happy to see justice served," one person wrote on ABCNews.com. "Fathers deserve to be considered valid parents in custody battles."
Others disagreed with the government's tactics. "The founding fathers of the U.S. are turning in their graves," another person wrote on a CNN message board. "Abducting people in the night is what the British did to the colonists."
The Miami Herald's Internet edition offered a poll, asking readers whether they thought the government handled itself properly.