'CNN' defends gasses story

We refer to Ambassador Agus Tarmidzi's letter published in The Jakarta Post on Dec. 31, 1997, entitled Inaccurate CNN report.

I thank for your letter and would like to address your concerns.

The report you saw on Dec. 10, 1997 was not on the "haze" nor the forest fires; it was on the gases released by the fires which added to the global greenhouse effect. The story was part of the special CNN series on global warming centered around the Kyoto Conference.

The only mention of the fires was in the first line which says the fires are still smoldering underground (coal and peat) and that even though they may have died down the problems are far from over. The story then focused on the greenhouse gas effect and its global implications.

CNN's stories do not carry my personal opinions. They are based on facts and video of the actual sites. Until mid December, our environmental unit was in East Kalimantan monitoring the after-effects of the fires. Until then, there were sporadic subterranean fires from coal and peat. In covering the fires (a story we stayed with for nearly six months) I had traveled through Sumatra, Kalimantan, Malaysia, and Singapore -- most of the affected sites in southeast Asia.

I can tell you that we take the utmost care to make sure our facts and information are accurate. Each sentence is carefully crafted because each story can only run about two minutes.

By necessity we have to be straightforward -- leaving us little room to address sensitivities and particular agendas. I understand your concerns given the series of bad news that has hit Indonesia in the past six months. I can only tell you that we at CNN do our best to report the news accurately and fairly.

I thank you for your interest. Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any other concerns.

MARIA A. RESSA

Bureau Chief

CNN Jakarta