The Malaysian government has rejected reports that it had banned local media from reporting a bird flu outbreak, but Press sources said there had been political pressure to downplay the issue.

Malaysia banned poultry exports on Wednesday after finding bird flu in two chickens in a village near the Thai border.

The state-owned Bernama news agency issued a one-sentence note to editors late on Wednesday saying: "The Prime Minister's Department has directed media not to use any story relating to the so-called bird flu in the country".

But the advisory came just hours after a government statement announcing the outbreak and a spokesman for Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi -- who took power last year promising more open government -- said the media was free to report the story.

"There was never a directive from the prime minister. We don't know what actually happened," an aide said.

Just two dailies -- the pro-government New Straits Times and its Malay-language sister paper, Berita Harian -- carried the news.

Bernama declined comment on the advisory notice while other papers contacted said they had taken an editorial decision not to run the story before the Bernama note was issued.

A senior editor at the biggest selling paper, the Star, said the story would definitely appear on Friday.

Other media sources said editors had been told in a phone call from the Prime Minister's office to play down the story, to avoid public panic.

"We are confused. On one hand the new leadership promised openness but on the other hand is telling us not to highlight certain stories," said a senior journalist at a daily newspaper.-Reuters