Overview:

The Royal Government of Cambodia, a collision government of multi-party democratic system, was formed in September 1993 right before the departure of UNTAC.  This government was led by Co-Prime Ministers, first ever in the history of Cambodia and in the world. Prince Norodom Ranaridh was then First Prime Minister while Hun Sen was then Second. Even though the UNTAC penal code was still in place, the new constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia guarantees the freedom of expression, press and journalists. It was believed that this certainly played a role in mushrooming the Cambodian newspapers. In addition, Mehta (1997) pointed out that the cheapness and the convenience in starting a newspaper business also contributed to this flourishing. It was estimated that there were about 30 newspapers publishing in 1993, about 45 in the following year, about 90 in 1995 and by 1998 the number rose to about 200 media organization that registered with the Ministry of Information. Athough the Cambodian printing press was facing a number of critical issues such as the lack of qualified professional journalists, low quality paper, suppression, intimidation, threat, violence and killings, it was strongly believed that it played highly significant role in providing a check and balance to government in absence of opposition voice.

Cambodian journalists:

It was the beginning path of Cambodia development and the education was under reforming. However, there was no school of journalism established yet in the country. So, who ran those media and how? One media expert classified the Cambodian journalists into four different categories. The first category was those who got trained and served in the media prior to the Khmer Rouge regime. Most of these people were holding high level positions either as editors or publishing director of the papers. The second category included those who served during the PRK/SOC period and got trained in Vietnam, Soviet Unions and the Eastern Europe. The third category was those who had worked for the media of the resistant groups along the border while the last and was also the largest category were those who had no experience in the media at all. The late Reach Sambath compared Cambodian journalists in between 1993 and 1995 to birds that were freed the first time and were flying into the darkness, knocking into trees and wall. However, he pointed out that the improvement had been made. These journalists started to quote people and use facts for their stories by leaving their opinion aside. Nonetheless, he also suggested that laziness was their major issue. They were too lazy to read what was written by others and to provide background to explain their readers.

Quality of the press:

The lack of professional journalists certainly reflected on the poor quality of the Cambodian papers. It was noted that the Cambodian papers often lacked of research while facts and figures and pictures were not appropriately and ethically used. Also, the inappropriate or insulting words often appeared not only in the body of the articles but also in the headlines.  For instance, there were headlines read “Rannaridh is three times as stupid as Hun Sen two times a day” and “Don’t invest in Cambodia because Hun Sen is the biggest thief.” It is important to point out that many newspapers backed and financially supported by the political parties. There were also papers began by self-funded to boost for personal political career. These newspapers were mouthpiece of those political parties and provided bias information. For example, the opposition newspapers described the politicians of CPP ruling party as crooks and tools of Vietnamese while in turn those pro-CPP newspapers accused the opposition leaders of being stupid and corrupt.

Freedom of the press:

It is also necessary to point out that there were eight journalists killed between 1993 and 1998. Three of them were shot dead in 1994, another one shot dead in 1996 and four others in 1997. Besides physical violence and abuse, Cambodian journalists also faced serious court case. For instance, in April 1994, Mr Ngun Non, the editor-in-chief of the Morning News was arrested and jailed over an article accusing a provincial governor of corruption. And in July in that same year, he was arrested and jailed for another of his articles suggested several senior officials of the ruling party CPP involved in the coup attempt in 1993. There were also cases of legal actions taken by the Supreme Court over the defamation and disinformation lawsuit against two editors –in-chief of the opposition newspapers, in 1996. Each of them were sentenced to one year imprisonment by UNTAC penal code, but were luckily released by pardon from the King.

Some Major Events: