The Phnom Penh Post: Society’s Looking Glass

by Stuart Alan Becker, Tuesday, 11 October 2011

  

Donate $10 to sponsor training of journalist at Cambodia Institute for Media Studies

Three Cambodian journalists have been arrested and jailed for extortion after they were tricked  over five dollars. Lack of professional skills makes Cambodian journalists fall victims of their own work.

Help a Cambodian journalist get trained in a professional skill for only $10. For $50, CIMS can train a journalist on all basic news reporting and writing skills. For $500, you can sponsor a week-long news reporting course with your signature on certificates of completion for 15 journalists. CIMS trainers will donate free labour for training five additional journalists.

All donations and expenses will be announced on CIMS Website and Cambodian Journalism Review blog.

Send your donations to Cambodia Institute for Media Studies, Account No 0001 10 540935 15,  ACLEDA Bank, Monivong Boulevard, Phnom Penh

Vann Nath, Artist and Cambodia Torture Survivor, Dies at 65

By SETH MYDANS, The International Herald Tribune, Published: September 5, 2011

Vann Nath, an artist who was one of only a handful of survivors of the Khmer Rouge torture center Tuol Sleng, and who lived to testify two years ago at the trial of his jailer, died Monday in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He was 65.

The cause was cardiac arrest, his family said, adding that he had been in a coma for three days. He had suffered from kidney disease and other ailments for years.

Shackled and tortured along with other prisoners when he was arrested at the end of 1977, Mr. Vann Nath was spared by his jailers to paint portraits of the Khmer Rouge leader, Pol Pot. His more recent paintings of scenes of torture now hang on the walls of Tuol Sleng, now a museum. (more…)

Premier’s Attack on Foreign Media Offers Lessons

Letter to The Cambodia Daily, 27 July 2011

Many Cambodian journalists were concerned but not surprised at Prime Minister Hun Sen’s recent criticism of Radio Free Asia and Voice of America Radio as reported in Monday’s Cambodia Daily, “Hun Sen Talks Tribunal, Blasts US-Funded Radio” (page 24).

First, journalists working for different local media outlets look at the two American radio stations and  other foreign-language media as a professional standard and to measure how far they can go in terms of pushing the limits of press freedoms in Cambodia.
(more…)

Counting on change in the name of democracy

Wednesday, 25 May 2011, Phnom Penh Post

 Cambodia’s government is working with civil society to get local officials to reach out to inform citizens. Sun Narin asks if anything will really change.

Let people know the facts, and the country will be safe,” were the words of Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States.

With his usual talent for combining eloquence and brevity, Lincoln needed only these 11 words to describe the crucial importance of an educated, well-informed society in maintaining a functioning democracy.

Also implied in this statement is the necessity of strong institutions for journalism and education to distribute this information and a government that makes accurate and applicable information available. (more…)

Internet freedom is critical

by Carol A Rodley

The Phnom Penh Post, Friday, 18 February, 2011

 
Just over a year ago, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for a global commitment to internet freedom.  She has now addressed the issue again in a major speech on the subject.

Based on the universal human rights framework, internet freedom – or as Secretary Clinton deemed, the freedom to connect – applies the freedoms of assembly, expression and association to cyberspace. 

Today, as we look around at world events, this commitment is more important than ever.  By preserving these rights in the digital era, we preserve the promise and the possibility of the internet as a platform for ideas, innovation, connection and economic growth. (more…)

Media treads fine line in border row

By Irwin Loy

The Phnom Penh Post, Wednesday, 10 February 2010

Coverage, rather than rhetoric, can lead in igniting Thai-Cambodian tensions, analysts warn

 
THERE was no shortage of border rhetoric this weekend. Knowing the media would scrutinise a high-profile visit to Preah Vihear temple, Cambodian officials threw jabs at Thailand’s leader, its claims to contested land and the Thai press.

In an unusual move, the government attacked one of Thailand’s English-language newspapers, accusing the Bangkok Post of publishing a “distorted” view of the weekend visit. (more…)

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Cambodian editor gets threats, lawsuit over an article on land grabbing linked to PM’s nephew

        The editor-in-chief of a local bi-weekly newspaper, “Sralanh Khmer” (Love Khmer) has received death threats and a lawsuit from a nephew of Prime Minister Hun Sen, reports coming out Phnom Penh say. The editor reportedly is being harassed for a published article which suggests that Hun Sen’s nephew, Hun Tho, was involved in a land-grabbing case in Northeast Mondolkiri province.

        Cambodian human rights group Alliance for Free Expression in Cambodia (AFEC) says “Sralanh Khmer” editor You Saravuth has gone into hiding after receiving several threats over the telephone from Hun Tho. This supposedly comes on top of a meeting between the two, in which Hun Tho allegedly threatened to send military police to monitor the journalist’s movements.

        AFEC said You Saravuth’s lawyer Chet Sarath on 26 June filed a complaint with the Phnom Penh Municipal Court over the threatening phone calls. But a local newspaper, “Rasmey Kampuchea,” quoted Hun Tho as saying that he only invited You Saravuth to his house to see evidence of the land grabbing he was
accused of.

        On June 23, “Sralanh Khmer” issued a statement alleging that Hun Thao and another person threatened to kill the editor of the newspaper. The statement cited the meeting at Hun Tho’s residence and an anonymous fax to You Saravuth containing his photograph marked with an “X” in front.

        On that same day, Hun Tho’s lawyer reportedly filed a lawsuit against You Saravuth for “misinformation”.

        In the June 15-17 edition of “Saralanh Khmer”, a story quoted unnamed sources close to officials in the National Land Dispute Committee as saying Hun Tho, who is the
son of Hun Sen’s brother Hun Neng, and Kun Kim, who is deputy commander-in-chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, illegally took over thousands of hectares in  Mondolkiri province.

        The article said land-grabbing was a widespread issue in province, and crticised Hun Sen’s failure to follow through on promises to put a stop to the problem.
The story also challenged the Prime Minister to punish any of his relatives implicated in the matter.

        Despite a relatively free media environment, Cambodian journalists still face lawsuits and death threats over reports attempting to investigate widespread corruption and favoritism in government. Land grabs allegedly perpetrated or tolerated by government officials, the Khmer Rouge, and issues surrounding the Cambodia-Vietnam border demarcation, are among the most sensitive issues for the government.

 
30 June 2006
Source: Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA)