BY TERRY JACKSON

 The Elian Gonzalez story changed directions faster than a pinball game
 Wednesday, but South Florida television stations, in their scramble to keep up,
 avoided what has become a hallmark of major breaking news -- nonstop coverage
 at the expense of regular programming.

 Although the day shaped up as one of the most significant since Elian was
 rescued at sea on Thanksgiving Day, local stations mostly held their updates until
 commercial breaks, causing little disruption to daytime game shows, talk
 programs and soap operas. The trend carried over into prime time.

 Early in the day, CNN was one of the few sources offering blanket reporting on
 every Elian move.

 Was the strategy of the South Florida stations a reflection of viewer weariness
 with the story?

 News directors say no.

 NEWS JUDGMENT

 ``We've heard from some viewers who can't stand any more of this story and we've
 heard from those who want more, but that doesn't really have an effect on our
 news judgment,'' said Shannon High-Bassalik, news director at WFOR-CBS 4.
 ``We hate breaking into programming. If your program gets interrupted, it had
 better be very important.''

 High-Bassalik said her station felt it was important to break in to show Elian being
 driven from his home Wednesday morning, but not when the family picked up
 Marisleysis Gonzalez from Mercy Hospital.

 ``It wasn't a compelling event,'' she said.

 Tim Geraghty, WTVJ-NBC 6's news director, said the Elian story is so well known
 that it now lends itself to short updates rather than blanket coverage.

 ``We are trying to keep it in context,'' he said.

 SHOW PREEMPTED

 However, when it became apparent that Attorney General Janet Reno would meet
 with Elian and his Miami family at the home of Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin, Channel
 6 dumped the Rosie O'Donnell Show at 4 p.m. to update the story. Other stations
 stuck to their afternoon programming.

 That's in sharp contrast to television coverage Jan. 26, when Elian's grandmothers
 were due to arrive at O'Laughlin's home. Nearly every station preempted daytime
 entertainment programming for blanket coverage, much of which boiled down to
 aerial views of Opa-locka Airport and O'Laughlin's home.

 Even the Spanish-language stations, whose viewers may have more interest in
 the Cuban-U.S. tug of war over Elian, kept much of their coverage confined to
 updates on the half-hour.

 Of WLTV-Univision 23 and WSCV-Telemundo 51, Channel 51 was more prone to
 breaking into regular programming -- an attempt to brand itself as more aggressive
 than its rival.

 SERVING VIEWERS

 Robert Vizcon, the station's news director, said it's a matter of playing to his
 audience.

 ``The Cuban community can't get enough of this,'' he said. ``We broke in when
 they were leaving the house and when they got to [O'Laughlin's] house.''

 But if the Elian story is now truly entering its last chapters, Vizcon is not worried
 about losing a hot story.

 ``This is Miami,'' he said. ``There's always something else.''

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald