'CNN' defends gasses story

'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