ABC responds

Farid Baskoro's letter of May 22, 1996 was published on the day I was in Jakarta attending the Indonesian-Australian editors' meeting.

Contrary to Farid Baskoro's claim, Australian Television did not announce the news of the hostage rescue operation by stating that the OPM had suffered a setback.

In the newsreader introduction there was no reference at all to the OPM having suffered a setback. The news item itself began with a description of the Armed Forces' rescue operation followed by two "sound bites" -- one from the British ambassador in Jakarta and one from the mother of an English hostage -- both praising the success of the operation.

At the end of the item, our correspondent remarked "that while the Indonesian military basks in the success of its rescue operation, the OPM is left to consider a setback". He went on to say that "even those who've been sympathetic to the OPM's cause are saying that the small and ill-equipped guerrilla group have made a strategic blunder by holding onto the hostages for so long".

We fail to see how this statement could possibly be construed as bias against Indonesia.

As for the reference in the newsreader's introduction to the two hostages having been shot, at the time that this news item was filed, wire service reports were quoting an Indonesian military source as saying that the two had, in fact, been shot dead. However, our correspondent made it plain in his report that the "circumstances" surrounding the hostages' deaths had "yet to be made clear".

As the facts in this story became clearer we updated our news bulletin and the following night it was reported that the two Indonesian hostages had died at the hands of their OPM captors.

At no stage did either report speculate that the two dead hostages may have been killed by Indonesian Army gunfire.

To assert that there was some wish on our part for the Indonesian military to botch the rescue operation is an absurd claim.

As for the use of a graphic depicting the OPM and a group of guerrilla, it was universally known that the hostages had been captives of the OPM for more than four months. Hence, the use of the OPM flag in the graphic. Once again, to suggest that this graphic was an example of anti-Indonesian prejudice is completely without foundation.

Australia Television prides itself on the accuracy, independence and comprehensive nature of its coverage. We continually receive testimony to the attributes of our news and other programing through positive feedback from governments, ministers, officials and others from the Asia-Pacific region.

I appreciate that Mr. Baskoro has gone to some length to put his point of view. We always look forward to receiving correspondence from our audience particularly when we can clarify any misunderstandings or misconceptions.

MICHAEL MANN

Chief Executive

Australia Television