by Brennan Stark, The Phnom Penh Post, Tuesday, 24 January 2012

 
The postponement of two US internet piracy bills last week was met with relief by human rights and media experts in Cambodia, who say the overreaching grasp of the proposed legislation would hinder the internet’s progress and growth in the Kingdom.

The US House of Representative’s Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Senate’s PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) had aimed to require that internet providers block access to websites accused of piracy and would criminalise the unlawful streaming of copyrighted material by domestic or foreign websites.

Mike Gaertner, chief operating officer of Phnom Penh-based CIDC Information Technology, said the proposed measures would hurt only the US market in the long run.

“Cambodians are interested in American music and culture, but are not entirely familiar with it yet. They are not going to suddenly be willing or able to pay American prices for it, especially given the differences in the exchange rate and current state of the Cambodian economy,” he said.

Gaertner said his main concern was that acts of internet piracy committed in Cambodia might push Youtube or Facebook, sites popular among Cambodian internet users, to pull operations out of the country.

“[This country] has a history of piracy in the internet and elsewhere, and if the bills pass and these websites suddenly decide to temporarily cease operations in Cambodia, it could have drastic consequences for Cambodia’s internet development.”

Cambodian Institute for Media Studies director Mouen Chhean Nariddh said he believed that the United States’ example could negatively influence the Cambodian government.

“The US is a leading world power, and any infringements it imposes in its own country are likely to create a domino effect that could negatively influence young democracies such as Cambodia,” he said.

“The internet market is still developing here, and if the Cambodian government attempts to mirror the US effort, it would slow progress.”

Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said any major changes from the government are unlikely, however.

“In the past, [Cambodia’s] government has shown little concern with intellectual property rights, and piracy has gone largely unregulated,” he said. “It is therefore unlikely to suddenly put forth measures to curb it just because it is being done in other countries.”

He added that even if SOPA or similar legislation did pass in the future, Cambodia would be little affected since the bills would target the source of the piracy rather than the end-user. He said that although the bills would criminalise the act of streaming copyrighted material, the original streamer websites were not located in Cambodia.

What could potentially affect the domestic market, he said, is if major US websites frequented by Cambodians were to suddenly make their protected content unavailable overseas.

“People here are increasingly using Youtube to discover Western music. Before we would just listen to Khmer songs, which in this instance would not encounter any copyright problems. But if such laws pass abroad, it could seriously limit our access here and create cultural gaps,” he told the Post.

While initial reports stated that US Representative Lamar S Smith, who drafted SOPA, had announced that SOPA and PIPA will remain stalled until there is a more accepted solution, an alternative called the OPEN Act had already been proposed.

The act would seek to stop the transfer of money to foreign websites whose primary purpose is piracy or counterfeiting, whereas SOPA and PIPA had been attempting to force search engines and internet providers to redirect users away from accessing the sites.

Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer, Monday, 28 November 2011

In recent month, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has made a number of public speeches against broadcasters VOA Khmer and Radio Free Asia for critical coverage of his government.

“Go ahead, broadcast my speeches,” he said at a ceremony to inaugurate a bridge in Kampot province earlier this month.

He asked the crowd to point out the RFA reporter present. “Go ahead, insult me,” he said. “I won because you insulted me. The more you insult, the more you make a mistake.”

Cambodia’s broadcast media environment is overwhelmingly favorable to Hun Sen and the ruling Cambodian People’s Party. There are few independent outlets, and media experts say it is difficult to get a license for non-party aligned broadcasters.

In July, Hun Sen made more critical remarks of the two broadcasters after one reporter asked him questions concerning alleged political interference at the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal. At the time, Hun Sen said he would pay reporters if they stopped working.

Such remarks could hurt Cambodia’s struggling press, said Moeun Chhean Nariddh, director of the Cambodian Institute for Media Studies.

“In a country like Cambodia, where democracy is still young and press freedom is not yet strong, we’re concerned that this would affect local media institutions, and they will be afraid,” he said. “It’s a loss, first for the government, because in a democratic regime, we do need oversight and criticism from the public, especially the media that represent them.”

The US-based Freedom House considers Cambodia’s media environment “not free,” and says it is concerned the media here are “under threat,” especially with criminal defamation charges leveled against journalists who are critical of the government or powerful business interests. Cambodia’s press freedoms were ranked 128^th out of 178 countries in 2010, a slide from 117^th the year before.

Ek Tha, a spokesman for the government, said some criticisms from the media “are not reasonable.”

“Thinking always about the bad news is not a good thing,” he said. “They have to see the positive side more than the negative.”

However, Chan Saveth, head of investigation for the rights group Licadho, said Hun Sen’s remarks were “a form of threat.”

Threats to journalists in Cambodia are a reality. In February 2010, a reporter for RFA, Sok Serei, was charged by a Takeo provincial court after reporting on alleged corruption in a community there. Hang Chakra, the editor of a critical newspaper, Khmer Machas Srok, was jailed in 2008. Freelance reporter Ros Sokhet was also recently jailed in Siem Reap for allegedly sending threatening text messages to another broadcast personality with close ties to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.

At least 12 journalists have been killed since 1994, following stories that were critical of powerful individuals or dug into lucrative crimes like illegal logging. The most recent was Khem Sambor, a reporter for the opposition newspaper Meakneakseakar Khmer, just ahead of the July 2008 elections, who was shot dead along with his son. No perpetrators have ever been arrested in any of those cases.

Son Chhay, a lawmaker for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, said Cambodia’s leadership remains “inspired by the socialist regime of the 1980s.”

“We worry that this direct lash out could lead to touching the security of reporters of both radio [broadcasters],” he said.

Meanwhile, he said, other parliamentarians have suggested eliminating re-broadcasts of both VOA and RFA.

“The country’s leaders must accept the criticisms,” he added.

Moeun Chhean Nariddh’s Letter to the editor, The Phnom Penh Post Khmer, 14 October 2011

Dear editor,

I am very interested in reading about the assessment by the Phnom Penh Post’s Publisher of the media situation in Cambodia in the article “The Post: Society Looking Glass,” October 11.

First, I must congratulate the Post on its turning point to make profits in the media business in Cambodia after four years of heavy losses.

The Post’s success has proved that it is not only a professional newspaper, but it also has a sound business strategy to win the support of readers and advertisers in Cambodia’s competitive media business environment.

However, not many Cambodian newspapers have been as successful. Regardless of their sizes, only a handful of the 398 newspapers registered at the Ministry of Information have become relatively successful and been able to continue their publications. Hundreds of other newspapers became bankrupt less than a year into the media business.

These newspapers had two common problems: the quality of their news products was not good enough to compete in the free marketplace of ideas, and/or they could not endure losses long enough to see the tide turn around.

Second, I am afraid to disagree with the Publisher’s assertion that Cambodia has the freest media market in Asia. Let alone Japan and South Korea which have the healthiest democracy and free press, many other countries in the region like India, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand have actually taken the lead in the media business.

While Cambodia’s print media seem to have enjoyed a lot of freedoms, the broadcast media are not as lucky. These electronic media, particularly TVs, are under a tight control of the government.

We are glad that the Post has managed to avoid both physical and legal harassment due to its high professional standard and better privilege as a foreign-owned newspaper. But, other Khmer-language newspapers have not been able to practice the media professions free from fear of legal prosecutions and physical harassment.

Between 2005 and 2009, Internews Network and the Cambodia Institute for Media Studies had conducted a series of training workshops for Cambodian journalists on investigative reporting skills. Less than half of nearly 200 stories produced by the journalists we trained and mentored were able to be published. Other stories ended up in the trash bins.

The stories that couldn’t find a space in the newspapers were too sensitive as they implicated powerful officials and rich business men in corruption, land disputes, illegal loggings or other wrongdoings.

Other stories could not be published, because the people or businesses under investigation were the main advertisers in the newspapers, while the rest of the stories lacked sufficient evidence to prove the allegations due to the lack of access to information.

Nevertheless, we still hope that the media environment will turn for the better as Cambodian journalists continue to push the limits of their freedoms and promote their professional standards.

Moeun Chhean Nariddh

Director

Cambodia Institute for Media Studies

Phnom Penh

by Stuart Alan Becker, Tuesday, 11 October 2011

  

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

From her house in Snay Anchit Village, about five kilometers from the health center in Kampot provonce’s Chum Kiri district, 20-year-old village malaria worker Kong Lida can clearly hear the noise of a generator roaring in the distance. This generator is an important source of power where Lida and other villagers have their car batteries charged everyday so that their houses can be lit up at night from electric lamps and at the same time charge up their mobile phones.

But soon Lida and other village malaria workers in her village and other communes will not need to pay the generator owner to have their car batteries charged anymore. Now, all these VMWs will get their power from a ubiquitous source of energy – namely solar power.

As part of the country’s malaria elimination strategy, the National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control or CNM, with technical support from Malaria Consortium (MC) and WHO, has launched a pilot program to train VMWs in Kampot, Siem Reap and Kampong Cham provinces on how to send simple mobile phone text messages (SMS) to report in real time on detected malaria cases. These SMS messages also support the paper reporting that feeds into the health information system from the health centers.

CNM and MC also provide each of the VMWs with a solar panel and a lamp together with a mobile phone and a charger since there is no electricity in their villages.

 Cambodia is currently seeing a revolution in communications with the roll-out of affordable wireless services to much of the rural population. The potential of approaches based on mobile phones and web-based technology to address the gaps in field data collection for malaria is now widely recognized.

“I think using a mobile phone is good, because I can report immediately when I come across a malaria case,” said village malaria worker Lida. Previously, the VMWs would record the data in a logbook which they would then report to the health centers at the end of every month before it was sent to the operational district hospitals and finally to CNM.

InSTEDD, an innovative humanitarian technology NGO, designed the system, utilizing SMS messages in Khmer script that interact with mapping software to generate maps on the World Wide Web for the locations of malaria cases reported by the VMWs. These malaria cases are also known as Day Zero cases, to indicate the locations of the patients before they are given appropriate and effective treatment.

 The system allows for VMWs and health centre staff to alert the relevant (based on location) district, provincial and national staff to malaria cases as they are diagnosed facilitating a prompt response…

“The web-based system uses simple SMS, which is four to five digit codes in the case of VMWs,” Malaria Consortium’s Information Systems Manager Steve Mellor told CONTAINMENT. “In addition to the targeted alerts all cases are displayed on-line which allows registered users to view cases,” added Mellor.

The SMS from the village malaria worker only includes a code for the type of malaria, the patient’s sex, age and the village name to indicate the sick person’s location.

The InSTEDD-designed system, Mellor pointed out, has a unique threshold feature which allows it to be used in low transmission settings to promptly identify the last few remaining cases and can also be used in high transmission settings to identify possible malaria outbreaks as they occur.

“The system allows for VMWs and health centre staff to alert the relevant (based on location) district, provincial and national staff to malaria cases as they are diagnosed facilitating a prompt response,’’ he emphasized.

This project also highlights the effective cooperation with the private sector for a public good with low start-up costs that is estimated at US$100 for each VMW which includes a mobile phone, SIM card, solar charger and training.

“Due to the collaboration between CNM and Mobitel all SMS messaging is free which essentially results in zero maintenance cost,’’ noted Ngor Pengby, Malaria Consortium’s Data Manager. “Mobitel have pledged SIMs and free SMS for all VMWs and health facilities in Cambodia should CNM decide to scale up the system in the future,” he added.

One of the consequences associated with the delays in paper-based reports is frequent stock-outs of essential anti-malarial drugs in the health facilities that can deprive target populations like mobile migrant workers of access to effective treatment.

Deputy Director of CNM, Dr. Chea Nguon, said the SMS reporting would also help identify mobile migrant workers so that the district or provincial hospitals could request more anti-malarials when they detect an increase in migrant workers in certain locations.

“If we request the same amount of medicines, we might have a stock-out if there is an increase in the number of malaria cases among the mobile migrant population,” he added.

Letter to The Cambodia Daily, Thursday, September 29, 2011

           I read with great interest the move to legalize freedom of information in Cambodia in the article “Group Backs Freedom of Information Draft Law,” Sept 27, Page 1.

          Regardless of which parties or politicians sponsor the Freedom of Information Law (FoI), the passing of the access to information legislation will be of a great benefit for all sectors of the society, including the government itself.

         With a FoI law in place, the government can promote transparency, good governance and social accountability, which are deemed the best weapons to fight corruption in Cambodia.

          Most importantly, the public will reap a significant profit from full information disclosure that can help them better engage in Cambodia’s democratic process and to make more informed decision about their daily life.

         Likewise, the media and journalists will also see their work much easier with the adoption of an access to information law.

         I share the concern raised by other fellow journalists regarding the difficulties the Cambodian media professionals face in seeking public documents and information.

        First, virtually all documents were destroyed throughout the country by the Khmer Rouge regime between 1975 and 1979. Before 1975, the National Library in Phnom Penh had some 325,000 volumes of official records. However, only 65,000 volumes remained after the collapse of the Khmer Rouge regime though new documents and records have been restored and produced over the last three decades.

       Second, many journalists are able to get access to the government-held records only at the mercy of officials who are willing to release partial information to the media while keeping secret other important information concerning sensitive and controversial issues.

      Thus, Cambodian journalists are still caught in a climate of fear of legal prosecution for defamation and disinformation due to the lack of such crucial information while reporting on sensitive issues such as corruption, government’s contracts, land disputes and other wrongdoings.

      With adequate information and evidence to back up the allegations in their stories, journalists can also avoid such legal pitfalls and greatly help the government in its efforts to fight corruption and to promote transparency, good governance and social accountability.  

Moeun Chhean Nariddh

Director, Cambodia Institute for Media Studies

Phnom Penh

SOURCE: Southeast Asian Press Alliance, 28 September 2011

(SEAPA/IFEX) – Jakarta, 28 September 2011 – On International Right to Know Day, ARTICLE 19, Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA), Media Defence-Southeast Asia and SAPA Task Force on ASEAN Freedom of Information, urge the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to demonstrate its commitment to public participation by promoting access to information within ASEAN and among its member states.

Across the world, the right to information has been widely recognised by regional bodies and more than 90 countries alike as a fundamental right essential for the achievement of every person’s civil, political and socio-economic rights and as a mechanism to promote democratic accountability and good governance. These include the ASEAN member states of Indonesia, Thailand, and the federal state of Selangor in Malaysia.

ASEAN has been gradually moving towards greater incorporation of public participation. At the 18th ASEAN Summit in May this year, the Chair’s statement emphasised that ASEAN member states will continue to “encourage the participation of the peoples and other stakeholders of ASEAN” and intensify its work towards a “people-oriented, people-centred and rules-based ASEAN”.

Regional bodies of a similar nature to ASEAN such as the Council of Europe, the European Union, and the Organisation of American States have adopted policies and mechanisms to provide access to public information. In Africa, the recent adoption of the African Platform on Access to Information (APAI) declaration on 19 September marks a landmark development for governments and civil society to work together to fulfill the right to information in the continent.

ASEAN must join these regional bodies to promote access to information, especially if it is serious about achieving its aims of good governance and transparency as outlined in its ASEAN Political Security Community blueprint, and increasing engagement and participation of the people under the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community blueprint.

As an initial step, ASEAN should adopt a joint declaration on access to information, to pave the way for integrating international standards of the right to information into ASEAN and the national policies of its member states.

We encourage ASEAN to adopt a declaration that:
- Affirms that everyone has the right to seek, receive, access and impart information and that access to information is a requisite for good governance, transparency and public participation.
- Urges its member states to respect and promote access to public information and to promote the adoption of any necessary legislative or other types of provisions to ensure its recognition and effective application.
- Adopts a right to information policy to disclose public information proactively and upon requests from the public information held by all ASEAN-bodies.

We also encourage the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission for Human Rights (AICHR) to guarantee the right to information and freedom of expression in the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration that is currently being drafted, and undertake a thematic study on access to information among ASEAN member states.
For more information:
Southeast Asian Press Alliance
Unit 3B, Thakolsuk Place
No. 115 Terddumri Road
Dusit, Bangkok 10300
Thailand
seapa (@) seapa.org
Phone: +66 2 243 5579
Fax: +66 2 244 8749
http://www.seapabkk.org

by Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer | Washington, DC, Friday, 09 September 2011

Moeun Chhean Nariddh, director of the Cambodia Institute for Media Studies, on “Hello VOA” Thursday. Photo: by Heng Reaksmey

 Journalists in Cambodia are currently facing problems of self-censorship, lawsuits and a competitive market, media experts said Thursday, but they said news organizations must continue to hold to principles of professional and a duty to the public.

The trend in oppression of Cambodian journalists have shifted from street attacks, threats of violence and murder to one of punitive legal measures by powerful interests, Moeun Chhean Nariddh, director of the Cambodia Institute for Media Studies, told “Hello VOA.”

In recent years, journalists have had to face a number of lawsuits or jail terms, especially under a criminalized defamation law.

This has created an environment where journalists self censor by avoiding issues like corruption and human rights abuses, he said. The best counter measure, he said, is accurate reporting in the public’s interest.

“Journalists are not afraid once they get the facts correct,” he said.

The self-censorship by journalists comes at a time where the Internet and multi-media options have created a competitive market, he said, and he urged traditional media—newspapers, radio and TV—to pay better attention to the needs of the public.

“If they continue to broadcast unqualified news, or news of low professionalism, the public will withdraw their confidence in them,” he said.

Meanwhile, VOA Khmer is currently facing contempt-of-court charges by the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal, for its reporting of confidential court documents on cases 003 and 004. Rights groups and court monitors have said they fear the two cases are not being fully pursued by the court due to political pressure from Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government, which opposes their going forward.

However, Moeun Chhean Nariddh said the “obligation” of journalists “is different from the courts, police or human rights activists.”

“Our job is to tell the truth to the public,” he said, adding, “We don’t see any [personal] gain in providing the news.”

VOA Khmer reporter Sok Khemara, whose reporting in Cambodia last month is at the center of the contempt charges, told “Hello VOA” Thursday that he had received a number of threats and acts of intimidation in his 20-year career as a reporter.

This has included threats from government officials who demanded he give up confidential sources or stop reporting a subject altogether, he said.

“Whatever the threats against me, as a journalist, I have a responsibility to bring the truth to the public,” he said. “We don’t work for ourselves, but rather the public.”

In July and August, Sok Khemara traveled to remote Cambodian villages to interview three suspects in cases 003 and 004, reporting that he said contributed to better informing both victims and suspects on the work of the tribunal.

His reporting included citation of a November 2008 prosecutor’s submission that had been publicized in the international media earlier in the year.

However, the office of the investigating judges say VOA Khmer violated the confidentiality rules of the court and began contempt proceedings.

Moeun Chhean Nariddh said he worried that a contempt charge against an international news agency like the Voice of America, which is funded by the US government, would cause local journalists to curtail their reporting on the court.

“This makes local journalists think on whether they dare publish that news or not,” he said. “That makes us all lose.”

Moeun Chhean Nariddh, The Phnom Penh Post, Wednesday, 07 September 2011

It was 1998 when former Phnom Penh Post Editor Sara Colm came to me with an assignment. This was not a regular journalistic assignment to report on a story. However, she gave me a new job to translate a compelling memoir of Mr Vann Nath, a surviving prisoner at Khmer Rouge’s Tuol Sleng execution and torture center.

My evening became occupied. With two Khmer and English dictionaries on my sides, I started pecking loudly at a typewriter, breaking the silence of many nights to come.

At times, my translation work seemed to have had a short supply since Mr Vann Nath could produce only a page in a day or two. The painter-turned writer said he felt too overwhelmed by the painful memory about his torture and other prisoners’ tragedy to write as much as he could.
Under the pressure of extreme anguish, Mr Vann Nath was eventually able to put together his 130-page memoir entitled “A Prison Portrait: One Year In Khmer Rouge’s S-21” after about one year.

As if he used his brush to paint pictures, Mr Vann Nath managed to use words to give a vivid description of each horrifying scene and event he had encountered during his one-year ordeal at Tuol Sleng.

 
As the translator, I would also take frequent breaks to overcome the pain of reading about Mr Vann Nath’s painful story.

However, both Cambodians and the world need to know what happened at Tuol Sleng and elsewhere during the Khmer Rouge’s nearly four years’ reign of terror responsible for nearly two million Cambodian deaths.

In addition to his written memoir, Mr Vann Nath has provided the Cambodian people with an insight into the nightmare and tragedy that was inflicted on 14,000 prisoners who had perished after they entered Tuol Sleng through his paintings and occasional oral story telling to students and other visitors.

I believe Mr Vann Nath still had hundreds of other stories he had yet to tell us beyond what he could tell in his written memoir.

We regret that in less than a year, we have lost two very important friends, including Mr Vann Nath, who was trying to seek justice, and former Khmer Rouge tribunal spokesman Mr Reach Sambath, who was trying to help provide justice for the Khmer Rouge’s victims and survivors.

Mr Vann Nath’s death was indeed the loss of a living almanac about Tuol Sleng prison.

Moeun Chhean Nariddh,
Director,  Cambodia Institute for Media Studies