Media organisations felt Malaysia's improved position from 113 last year to 92 this year in Reporters Without Borders'(RSF) 2006 World Press Freedom Index was insignificant.

They questioned RSF's methodology in compiling the information and cited that circumstances faced in our country are different from others.

Here are their comments:

Wong Chin Huat, Writers Alliance for Media Independence (WAMI) chairperson:

I'm really curious as to the exact methodology used by RSF. Overall we improved in both scores and rankings but we don't know how they interpret the questions.

There are 19 questions on whether there is a threat to the life of journalists, their families and sources - that may happen in countries like the Philippines but it's not a question for Malaysia.

There are six questions on state-owned media which in Malaysia's case, it's irrelevant because all our media are in private hands.

So I am not sure if any of our serious issues such as Media Prima's ownership and the sacking of the two editors from China Press were captured in their scale. Also, assuming all 50 questions carry the same weight, then some questions are not relevant to Malaysia.

It is important to reveal what is their scale and whether the methodology has changed from last years' for a consistent gauge of press freedom in Malaysia.

Sonia Randhawa, Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) executive director:

The thing about the index is that it measures events and not the media framework so it compares very different things.

Our reporters don't get kidnapped and there are no major risks like as in Iraq but that cannot be a justification that our press is more free.

And the duration they used (Sept 1, 2005 to Sept 1, 2006) is ridiculous. So many papers closed down within that duration. We've had the China Press threat, Sarawak Tribune closing down, Guang Ming Daily , New Straits Times and TV2 all had problems.

There is no possible explanation for our press freedom to have improved.

Norila Mohd Daud, National Union of Journalists Malaysia (NUJ) president:

As far as I'm concerned there isn't much change to the country's press freedom. I think electronic media is more open than print media.

For example, the RTM talk show Forum Perdana encourages open discussion by inviting opposition leaders to speak. That carries a lot of weight for press freedom.

However, I don't see any improvements or remarkable changes in print media except for Mahathir's comments on everything. I believe electronic media is the driving force for a change, not so much for print.

Vincent Brossel, Reporters Without Borders Asia desk head:

Press restrictions in Malaysia [...] mainly goes through economical control, media law and licensing, and self censorship.

Obviously, the press is much more free in Thailand and Philippines, but journalists there are facing other troubles: killings, threats, defamation cases and others.

The ranking is not a note of the state policy towards the press freedom, it is about all sort of restrictions coming from the state, the society and so on.

And in Malaysia, the control is maybe more subtle and direct violence against journalists are less frequent.

Others generally commented on Malaysia's latest ranking:

Ramon V Navaratnam, Transparency International - Malaysia president:

We believe Malaysia could perform much better if there was greater efforts made to combat to corruption in the country.

The improvement does indicate that the climate of more transparency and accountability evident in the country in the past three years has in fact resulted in a freer and less stifled press and media.

We call on the government to urgently review all legislation that restrains press freedom with a view to loosening, if not repealing any outdated laws.

Top priority needs to be given to reviewing the annual licensing requirements imposed on newspapers and the media in general.

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Prime Minister:

That's the view of outsiders. They are constantly assessing us in terms of competitiveness, quality, human rights and press freedom.

There is more press freedom in the country compared with several Asean countries like Singapore and Thailand.