A furious Madonna has slammed the media for its coverage of her adoption of a baby from Malawi, accusing journalists of "manipulating" the child’s father into claiming that he was not told he was giving up his son for good.

In an emotional appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show, the world-famous pop star said that she was astonished by the controversy that followed her move to adopt 13-month-old David Banda from the impoverished southern African nation.

Speaking on a satellite link-up from a London hotel, Madonna insisted that the toddler’s father, Yohane Banda, 32, was aware of the whole situation when she met him.

Mr Banda, who gave David to an orphanage at five weeks because he was unable to care for him after the baby’s mother died, has said since the adoption that he never understood that his child was being taken permanently.

"I do not believe that is true," the singer said. "I sat in that room, I looked into that man's eyes. I believe that the press is manipulating this information out of him.

"I believe at this point in time, he's been terrorised by the media. They have asked him things, repeatedly, and they have put words in his mouth. They have spun a story that is completely false."

Madonna also appeared to dispute Mr Banda’s claims that he used to cycle 25 miles a day to visit his son in the orphanage, saying that she believed the toddler had had no visits from his extended family visitors during the year he spent in the orphanage. She also revealed that David was seriously ill with severe pneumonia when she first met him.

The singer said she never expected the negative reaction to her decision to adopt a son. "I didn't realise that the adoption was causing any controversy until I came back," she said in the interview, which was recorded last night.

"There were a million film crews in the airport and press camped outside my door. I don't read newspapers or watch television, but all of my friends have let me know what everybody's talking about and what's going on in the news."

She said she wasn’t hurt by the negative publicity but disappointed because it would discourage other people from adopting African children in similar circumstances. She accused the media of "doing a great disservice to all the orphans of Africa, period, not just Malawi, by turning it into such a negative thing."

Madonna also hit back at allegations that she had used her status and celebrity to fast-track the adoption process and avoid legal hurdles, insisting that that there were no laws on the matter in Malawi. "I assure you it doesn't matter who you are or how much money you have, nothing goes fast in Africa," she said.

"There are no adoption laws in Malawi. And I was warned by my social worker that because there were no known laws in Malawi, they were more or less going to have to make them up as we went along.'"