Press freedom in Cambodia, in decline since the 2017 FILE – The Cambodian government’s suppression of Radio Free Asia and Voice of America broadcasts was front page news in The Cambodia Daily on Aug. 29, 2017. The paper has since closed. (Hean Socheata / VOA Khmer)International condemnationLocal journalists and media organizations say the government’s assault on free and independent media is ongoing.“Threats to press freedom, intimidation and harassment against journalists, including lawsuits, [criminal] charges and arrests, remain as reflected in the RSF report,” said Nop Vy, the outgoing media director of Cambodian Center for Independent Media.The center is one of the few remaining independent media organizations still operating in the country.“The media have not been pluralistic, with mostly one-sided reporting,” said Vy, who now leads a new Cambodian Journalists Alliance, established to promote and protect press freedom and journalists working in Cambodia.Despite constitutional guarantees of press freedom, the media are tightly controlled by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) and its allies.Tightening restrictionsAs the CPP sought to consolidate its power ahead of the 2017 local and 2018 national elections, there was a rise in independent journalists and political and civic activists being charged, threatened or attacked.Radio Free Asia (RFA), one of VOA’s sister broadcast outlets funded by the U.S. Congress, closed its Phnom Penh bureau in September 2017, citing “unprecedented” government intimidation of the media. By the end of 2017, Cambodia’s government had closed more than two dozen local radio stations, some of which had rebroadcast VOA and RFA programming.The Cambodia Daily, an award-winning English-language newspaper that had helped train journalists and strengthen the country’s fragile democracy for over 20 years, was also forced to close.Two of its former reporters, one of whom is now a FILE – Journalists Uon Chhin, left, and Yeang Sothearin arrive at the municipal court, in Phnom Penh, Oct. 3, 2019.Yeang Sothearin, who was arrested along with former RFA colleague Uon Chhin, said their case was pending.“Even though we can now live with our families, we have no freedom as anybody else does,” Sothearin told VOA Khmer.He has become more cautious since his arrest, especially when posting to social media, in case “those ideas could be deemed affecting the government or any governmental agencies.”“Sometimes, because of those concerns, I am refraining from expressing my opinions on social media,” said Sothearin, who is now working on a short-term project with a local organization. “This is one form of my self-restriction.”Questioning ‘professionalism’Information Ministry spokesperson Ouk Kimseng denies that the government has restricted press freedom or harassed journalists.“[RSF] has never seen anything positive in press freedom or freedom of expression the government has provided so far in Cambodia,” he told VOA, adding that de-licensing measures were justified.“Those [reporters] did not follow the [professional] journalistic roles and responsibilities,” he said. He declined to comment on the earlier arrests of the RFA and Daily reporters, saying the cases were in the hands of the courts.Echoing the government view that Cambodia has greater press freedom than at any other time, Pen Bona, top editor of PNN TV — owned by business tycoon and ruling CPP party Senator Ly Yong Phat — said authorities need a better grasp of journalistic roles and responsibilities.“In some cases, authorities have taken too strong measures, like the arrests and lawsuits [against journalists],” said Bona, adding that both journalists and state officials should try harder to understand each other.A veteran journalist and president of the independent Club of Cambodian Journalists, which is widely viewed as a government-aligned organization, Bona also said some journalists aren’t actual professionals, but just “self-proclaimed journalists” who “practice the profession incorrectly.”“So, it’s both ways,” he said.VOA contributor Chhengpor Aun reported from Phnom Penh. This story originated in VOA’s Cambodian service.
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