Overview:

The Vietnamese-backed Kampuchea National Liberation Front (KNLF) declared its victory on 7 January 1979 after overthrowing and pushing the Khmer Rouge out of the country.  Quickly, the Hanoi-backed government was formed and led Cambodia into the communist bloc.

There was hardly any change in the press comparing to the previous regime. The foriegn journalists were banned from entering the country by the government from 1980 to 1986. Only the state and the party-owned media existed and undeniably they were used as a tool to disseminate the government information and the party propagandas. Sarapordarmean Kampuchea (SPK) was the official government news agency established by KNLF. SPK was installed right away under the Ministry of Information to produce daily bulletin in Khmer, English and Vietnamese.  In addition, there were four other written presses owned and controlled by the party. Interesting point made by an editor of one of the paper was that those papers, to certain extent, could criticize the state on behalf the party, they were also could be pressured by the state through the party line.  The papers were freely distributed among the communist cadre through the state and party channels.

Some Major Events: