The Phnom Penh Post’s political correctness

Op-Ed by Khmerization
20th February 2010

“I hope the Phnom Penh Post would not take this as a swipe, but as a friendly advice from one of its loyal readers.”

The Phnom Penh Post is virtually Cambodia’s window to the rest of the outside world. No doubt that it has done an excellent job in the field of objective reporting and information dissemination from Cambodia to the English-speaking world. However, in regard to Cambodia-Vietnam and Cambodia-Thai relations and conflicts, the Phnom Penh Post’s political correctness and its quest for objective reporting has led it to walk a political tightrope and fine line to the point of favouring Cambodia’s neighbours at the expense of Cambodia’s national interests and that of the Cambodian people.

The recent Phnom Penh Post’s political correctness has led it to cause a controversy when one of its editors defined the word “Yuon” as “a racist epithet for the Vietnamese”.

Another example of its fine line policy led it to print a news story about the Vietnamese bans of Khmer Krom from listening to Khmer radio and watching Khmer TVs as a footnote to the story about Khmer Krom asylum-seekers. The Khmer radio and TV bans by the Vietnamese authority should be a big news in Cambodia and deserved to be printed in the front page of the Phnom Penh Post. But to do so would generate controversy and swift and unsavoury responses from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) and its Vietnamese master. Hence to obscurely print it as a footnote of another report would be a safe option.

It is understandable that the Phnom Penh Post has to walk a political fine line considering that press freedom in Cambodia has its limits, especially media reports critical of the ruling CPP and Cambodia’s relations vis-à-vis Vietnam.

In relations to Cambodia’s current border conflicts vis-à-vis Thailand, the Phnom Penh Post has given unfettered access to the Thai views, while the Thai media, in particular the Bangkok Post and the Nation, have virtually closed their doors to Cambodian views. Their reports regarding the Khmer-Thai conflicts are mostly subjective, lop-sided and biased. On the contrary, the Phnom Penh Post is more objective, but seen as giving too much the Thai version of events at the expense of the Cambodian views in some cases.

This is because the Bangkok Post and the Nation are completely staffed and run by Thais who have Thai interests at heart. On the other hand, the Phnom Penh Post and other Cambodia’s English-language media are mostly staffed and run by foreigners who have no Cambodian interests at heart. One would hope that there will be a time when the Phnom Penh Post will take Cambodian interests at heart when it is completely staffed and run by Cambodians, but that would be a long way off.

The Phnom Penh Post is the world’s gateway to Cambodian news. The world’s media pick up Cambodian news mostly from the many English-language media in Cambodia. Anypolitical correctness or political incorrectness will be favourably or unfavourably picked up by those world’s media. As such, one would hope that Cambodia can present its side of the story to the outside world favourably through the Phnom Penh Post or The Cambodia Daily.

I hope the Phnom Penh Post would not take this as a swipe, but as a friendly advice from one of its loyal readers.