Supplement of the Cambodia Daily confiscated by police

19 May 2008
By Leang Delux
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr

The Burma Daily has no right to be published in the kingdom. The authorities justified its confiscation by claiming the lack of a license for this English publication which first appeared on Friday 16 May.

The 8-page newspaper was inserted inside The Cambodia Daily because Bernard Krisher, the editor of The Cambodia Daily, initiated the publication of this supplement. In a letter published on Friday 16 May in The Burma Daily, Bernard Krisher explained that he wanted to give “the Burmese people the possibility to express themselves, but also to have access to free and independent information.”

The Burma Daily prints articles about Burma distributed by the International news media. It is also using a network of reporters. This publication will be available on demand through email and in PDF format. Bernard Krisher also hoped to have it distributed in printed version for sale in Cambodia as well, but the Ministry of Information did not agree to that. Touch Naroth, the Phnom Penh police commissioner said: “The ministry (of Information) asked us to remove Burma Daily from sale because it did not receive a publishing license.” On Monday morning, police officers were going from one newspaper kiosk to another to confiscate the 8-page publication. Newspaper vendors explained that The Cambodia Daily was also affected by this operation: some police officers did not even bother to just confiscate the supplement, they took the entire newspaper, including The Cambodia Daily.

The Burma Daily appears at a time when Burma is affected by cyclone Nargis, which, up to today, saw 134,000 persons killed or disappeared. Bernard Krisher’s publication also comes out during a particular context for the English media in Cambodia: The Phnom Penh Post, one of The Cambodia Daily’s competitors, was bought out a few months back by Australian investors who also own a newspaper in Burma. The Phnom Penh Post which is currently published twice a month will become a daily newspaper this summer. Two of The Cambodia Daily reporters left to join The Phnom Penh Post in the last few weeks. It appears as if Bernard Krisher’s initiative was taken to compete with his ambitious rival. The founder of The Cambodia Daily cannot be reached to comment on the launch of The Burma Daily.

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Bernie Krisher, publisher of The Cambodia Daily

Cambodia confiscates 'Burma Daily' publication

Phnom Penh (dpa) - The Cambodian government on Monday confiscated the Cambodia Daily newspaper from newsstands over a supplement called The Burma Daily, the Information Ministry and the newspaper's publisher said.

The official ministry explanation was that the confiscation was ordered because The Burma Daily, which had appeared since last week as a four-page insert with an identical masthead as its sister publication, was not licensed.

But publisher Bernard Krisher argued that the paper did not need a license because it was a supplement and the decision to confiscate the English- and Khmer-language daily, which has a circulation of about 5,000, reflected badly on the government.

He vowed to continue to print The Burma Daily for several more days as planned even if it were confiscated. After its printing is finished, it is to become an online and mail publication for distribution in Burma.

"The Burma Daily has no political agenda," he said by telephone. "It is designed to introduce to the Burmese people what a free and responsible newspaper looks like."

Krisher said he had not spoken to the ministry about the reasons for confiscating the paper, which is viewed by expatriates as a primary source of daily news in English.

"I don't have to explain to anyone," he said. "The New York Times does not explain to President [George W] Bush."

Media analysts speculated that the government might fear that the often anti-government Cambodia Daily might embarrass it by taking a similar approach to the Burmese military junta.

Cambodia and Burma have maintained warm relations despite an international outcry over the junta's appalling human rights record.

The nation's largest journalism association, the Club of Cambodian Journalists, said it was investigating the confiscation of the newspapers.

Information Minister Khieu Kanharith was not available for comment Monday.