MADRID, March 16: Another Spanish news outlet said on Tuesday it had been pressured by the outgoing government in a growing furore over accusations of media censorship and bias in coverage of last week's Madrid bombings.

Catalan-based daily El Periodico said outgoing premier Jose Maria Aznar had called its editor twice to persuade him that Basque, not Muslim, militants were behind the Madrid bombing.

That was before Sunday's general election, in which the Socialist party dramatically ousted Aznar's Popular Party (PP), favourites to win just days before.

On two occasions "Aznar ... courteously cautioned me not to be mistaken. ETA was responsible," Antonio Franco, editor of El Periodico, wrote in an editorial. It was the latest in a series of accusations that the government sought to steer media coverage of Thursday's devastating train attacks.

Newly elected Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has long lambasted the state media for lacking impartiality. But it was only after the PP's defeat was confirmed that journalists began to go public en masse with their misgivings.

Aznar said on Friday at a news conference that he had called several newspapers to explain the government's point of view and on Monday Interior Minister Angel Acebes defended the government's handling of information about the rail bombings.

"We told the truth at all times to the Spanish people." Left-leaning newspaper El Pais has also said it received calls from Aznar pinning the blame on ETA and unions at Spanish news agency EFE on Monday accused the state-owned agency's head of news on Monday of censoring crucial information.

Polls in the lead-up to the election showed public backing for the tough line taken by the PP against Basque guerrillas ETA was highly likely to have kept Aznar's party in power.

The PP's backing of a US-led war in Iraq, by contrast, brought millions onto the streets in protest last year. Thousands of people also hit the streets on Saturday night to demand they be "told the truth".

"This is like it was under (fascist dictator) Franco, where we have to rely on international media and word of mouth to find out what's going on...," said Marino Matasanz, a Madrid resident.

Zapatero has said he will name a temporary head of state radio and television RTVE for a transition period pending an overhaul of the organisation. -Reuters