Sunday, July 01, 2007

French Solaris and pro-CPP gov't Apsara TV want to buy out Cambodge Soir; Fear the newspaper may lose its independence if buy out goes through

French company wants to buy out Cambodge Soir

30 June 2007
By Moeung Tum
Radio Free Asia

Translated from Khmer by Socheata

A private French company is thinking about buying out the Cambodge Soir newspaper. Olivier Siebert, an executive director of Solaris International, a French company, told The Cambodia Daily today that Solaris does not want to see the end of Cambodge Soir’s publication in this manner. However, Olivier Siebert did not provide any detail of this purchase plan.

The 12-year-old Cambodge Soir newspaper was closed almost 20 days ago, following its worker’s strike to demand that the newspaper owners rehire back a fired French journalist, but the newspaper said that it is bankrupt instead.

Since 2006, Solaris International has a content production contract with the pro-government Apsara TV station.

Ou Virak, CCHR President and AFEC deputy-director, said the new owners should be at least better than the previous owners. He also indicated that CCHR will have to think about whether to continue its subscription with Cambodge Soir or not, following a change of management.

However, Khieu Kanharith, the government spokesman, declared that Apsara is not a government institution.

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KI-Media note: The Cambodia Daily reported that Olivier Siebert indeed indicated that Apsara is a pro-government broadcaster “like all stations” in Cambodia. However, Olivier Siebert could not discuss any possible measures to ensure Cambodge Soir’s independence.

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