A participant of the ongoing Second Global Knowledge Conference (GKII) in Kuala Lumpur today said that her comments at a media forum preceding the conference on Monday were taken out of context by The Star .

The newspaper yesterday quoted NGO activist Susanna George as saying that the Philippines had a "remarkably free" press but "corruption is so deeply ingrained there that nothing moves" in an article headlined "Free media 'may not lead to less corruption'"..

"The writer should have put what I said into context, which is that while an independent media is vital for a transparent and accountable political and economic system, it is not the sole determining factor," Susanna George told malaysiakini today.

George, a Malaysian working for a Manila-based development organisation Isis International, added that her comments were in the context of a push towards allowing the market to dominate the media industry, in the name of an "independent media". This, she said, was not necessarily the best way to proceed.

"My statements regarding the role of the free press in addressing corruption in governments were made within the context of talking about what other measures needed to be taken to get to the root of corruption."

Susanna said what she meant was that "besides a free and independent press, we also need other legislative and political mechanisms to ensure that corruption is dealt with once uncovered by the press".

"In many countries, investigative reporting does not result in action against corruption and their perpetrators because there is a lack of political will and legislative mechanisms to act decisively to get to the root causes of it. Instead in some situations there is an attempt to cover-up of corruptive practices or worse to threaten whichever media institution or media practitioner finds the courage to tackle such issues," she added.

"I have always viewed a free press as a vital ingredient in a society committed to greater social justice and more transparent and accountable governance.

" The Star has used pieces of a total statement that I made to argue for a more critical understanding of the role of media in development as an argument against a free and independent press. This is categorically untrue," said Susanna.

The Media Forum brings together media practitioners from all over the world to discuss the impact of new technologies on the media. The forum will also look into how to promote the democratisation of global media.

The GKII is a four-day international conference which began on Monday. About 1,200 delegates are participating in the conference, whose theme is "Access, participation and empowerment in governance".