Reading Between the Lines: How Politics, Money & Fear Control Cambodia's Media 2008
Released in May 2008 Download this report in English (PDF, 1.17 MBs) | |
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Cambodia's news media is often described as one of the freest in the region, with no official censorship and a "flourishing press".
But if we look beyond just the quantity of newspapers and magazines, and listen to journalists and editors describe their working environment, we find a media closely controlled by politics, money and fear.
Almost all Cambodia's media is aligned to a political party, with the vast majority favoring the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP). The situation varies depending on the media - television is totally owned or controlled by the government or CPP, radio has a few opposition-aligned stations and some important independent voices, while most newspapers act as mouthpieces for one party or another, with the exception of the foreign-language press.