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A Reflection on Cambodian Media Ethics MOEUN Chhean Nariddh Cambodia Institute for Media Studies; Cambodian Journalists’ Council for Ethics
On 23 October 2011, Cambodia marked the 20th anniversary of the Paris Peace Agreement signed by four warring Cambodian factions. The Paris Peace Agreement not only helped end the two-decade civil war, but also brought about liberal democracy and free press to Cambodia. Regardless of their size and color, different private newspapers began mushrooming in the country to engage in the new media business or to support various political parties participating in the UN-sponsored election in 1993. However, these newly established newspapers were far from reaching the professional standards, making ethical infractions common among Cambodian media professionals. Many journalists would fill the pages of their newspapers with “news” that was often opinionated or with slanderous articles to sling mud at political parties and politicians or even at journalists working for rival media outlets. While revenue sources were very limited, some newspapers even published pornography to try to attract readers and sell copies of their papers. A foreign media observer once labeled the Cambodian media as a “mad dog” instead of a watchdog, its supposedly democratic role. Having been overwhelmed with political news and information provided by the state-run media for so long, the information-hungry readers would try to read every story published in the newly established private newspapers no matter how poor the quality of their news products was. Before too long, the government passed the Khmer Press Law in July 1995 in an attempt to regulate and improve the media business and profession. Nevertheless, nearly 20 years later this media environment has almost become a thing of the past. Most of the nearly 400 newspapers registered with the Ministry of Information have disappeared from the newsstands as they lost support from the audience. Journalists have learned to distinguish facts from opinions and would try to get the other side of the story to present conflicting perspectives from different sources. Pornography is almost nonexistence. At press conferences or coffee shops, journalists from various political spectrums can be seen sitting side by side to compare notes or to share story ideas, putting aside their political differences. The main concern of these journalists is to fill their news newspapers with news about the real stories that readers want to read and to compete in the free marketplace of ideas. In spite of these significant improvements, Cambodian media and journalists need to do more to further promote their professional standards as questionable ethical practices still continue to be committed by Cambodian media professionals. In mid-October, a local newspaper published a color picture of six children and adults drowning after their boat capsized in a river, with no regard to the grief of the bereaved families. Another newspaper identified a victim of rape and murder in its news report