Poor Market, Perceived Danger Keep Youth Out of Journalism: Mentor

Thursday, 13 October 2011
Say Mony, VOA Khmer | Washington, DC

“Journalism is crucial for the democracy of the country.”

Cambodian youth are not so keen on journalism careers, believing the job to be dangerous and underpaid, a journalism mentor says.

“Some young graduates still fear that they might be in danger, or face legal consequences, if they work as journalists,” said Tieng Sopheak Vichea, director of the Cambodia Communication Institute, which offers the country’s only four-year journalism program.

Since the program’s inception, 10 years ago, only about 20 of its 120 graduates have gone on to pursue work as actual journalists, Tieng Sopheak Vichea said, as a guest on “Hello VOA” Monday.

“The job markets for journalism do not pay as well as other careers, either,” he said. “This too discourages most journalism students from taking on a job [in journalism] after graduation.”

In the US, a journalist is fired for donating to a political party ... in Cambodia, most journalists must work for the ruling CPP party or else...

Keith Olbermann, host of Countdown with Keith Olbermann, has been suspended indefinitely by MSNBC. Photograph: Fred Prouser/Reuters

Friday 5 November 2010
Ewen MacAskill in Washington
guardian.co.uk

A prominent US television anchorman, Keith Olbermann, was suspended today for making donations to three Democratic candidates in this week's midterm elections, in breach of company rules.

US journalistic ethics are extremely strict, barring media employees from donating to political parties or any other political involvement that might cause a conflict of interest.

Although Rupert Murdoch contributed $2m (£1.23m) to the Republicans and commentators from his Fox News network also made donations, papers such as the New York Times, National Public Radio and television channels such as CNN and MSNBC seek to maintain strict neutrality.

Olbermann, host of Countdown with Keith Olbermann, made contributions to two Democrats standing in Arizona and the Democrat Jack Conway, fighting for a place in the US Senate in Kentucky against the Republican Rand Paul, a Tea Party favourite.

Olbermann confirmed in a statement to the Politico website that he had given each of the candidates $2,400, the legal maximum for donations.

The MSNBC president, Phil Griffin, said in a statement: "I became aware of Keith's political contributions late last night. Mindful of NBC news policy and standards, I have suspended him indefinitely without pay." Olbermann has a contract with MSNBC until 2012.

MSNBC has positioned itself in recent years as a liberal counterweight to the rightwing Fox News, with journalists such as Olbermann outspoken in support of Obama and the Democrats. But it still wants to be seen as adhering to journalistic standards of objectivity, and has been criticising Murdoch over his donations.

Olbermann contributed to one of the Arizona candidates, Raúl Grijalva, on the same day that the Democrat appeared on his Countdown show.

In his statement, Olbermann said: "One week ago, on the night of Thursday 28 October 2010, after a discussion with a friend about the state of politics in Arizona, I donated $2,400 each to the re-election campaigns of Democratic representatives Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords. I also donated the same amount to the campaign of Democratic senatorial candidate Jack Conway in Kentucky."

He added: "I did not privately or publicly encourage anyone else to donate to these campaigns, nor to any others in this election or any previous ones, nor have I previously donated to any political campaign at any level."

The Fox News commentator Sean Hannity, according to the Salon website, gave $5,000 to a political committee that supported Michele Bachmann, a Republican congresswoman and Tea Party favourite. But Fox, unlike MSNBC, sees no conflict of interest.

In a sign of the strict neutrality the US media normally applies, the former editor of the Washington Post, Len Downie, famously did not even vote. Another, more recent example was a ban by NPR on staff – other than those covering the event – attending Jon Stewart's rally on the Washington Mall last weekend.

Congratulations to Sok Khemara of VOA Khmer for distinguished journalism award! Thank you for your dedication!

Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer staff (middle) receives David Burke Distinguished Journalism Awards, an annual award presented by the Broadcasting Board of Governors. (Photo: VOA)

VOA Khmer Reporter Wins Journalism Award

Im Sothearith, VOA Khmer
Washington, D.C Monday, 24 May 2010

Sok Pov Khemara said he had not reported with the award in mind, but “for social change, strengthening democracy, human rights, and serving people.”

VOA Khmer reporter Sok Pov Khemara has earned the David Burke Distinguished Journalism Award, an annual award presented by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the agency that oversees all US government-supported international broadcasting.

Blanquita Walsh Cullum, a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, said Sok Pov Khemara had earned the award for thought-provoking reporting on the Khmer Rouge tribunal and senior leaders who are not in custody.

“He created a series of reports profiling former Khmer Rouge leaders, who could face arrest if the tribunal widens prosecution of the regime,” Cullum said. “He travelled to the jungles of northern Cambodia, where many Khmer Rouge leaders have sought refuge, and he got an exclusive interview with five of them. He confronted the Khmer Rouge officials with questions about their role in the genocide.”

“Mr. Pov was helped in his research in searching for the Khmer Rouge by local chiefs, who recognized his voice from the VOA broadcast,” she added.

Sok Khemara interviewed five former leaders of the regime in 2009, as debate stirred over whether the tribunal should widen its scope to indict more cadre of the regime.

Jay Henderson, chief of VOA’s East Asia Pacific division, said he nominated the reporter for the personal danger he put himself in for the series.

“He went in and came out with a very good interview,” Henderson said. “He did establish contacts with those people. They did trust him because they learned to trust the Voice of America, which has been a credible news source. I think they have respect for Sok [Khemara] as well. He did a fair job with them. He did not unfairly criticize them. He simply asked them a few questions and took the answer and reported what they said. This is a very good example of outstanding journalism.”

Sok Pov Khemara said he had not reported with the award in mind, but “for social change, strengthening democracy, human rights, and serving people.”

The recipients of the David Burke Distinguished Journalism Awards include Rahman Bunairee of Deewa Radio to Pakistan, Jin-Seo Lee of Radio Free Asia’s Korean service, Laura Juan Huang of RFA’s Mandarin service, Mohamed Mokhtari and Betty Ayoub of Alhura Television, and Elena Rodriguez from Radio Marti.

Congatulations to Duong Sokha and Chheang Bopha, Ka-set Journalists Winner of Hellman/Hammett Writer’s Award

Two Cambodian Journalists Win Hellman/Hammett Writer’s Award

Rights Group Honors Defenders of Independent Media in Cambodia

"Chheang Bopha and Duong Sokha represent a small minority among Cambodia’s press corps who dare to challenge corrupt and politically biased institutions through their writings and their actions." - Sara Colm, senior Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch

(New York, July 22, 2008) – Two young Cambodian journalists, Chheang Bopha and Duong Sokha, are among a diverse group of 34 writers from 19 countries to receive the prestigious Hellman/Hammett writer’s award, which recognizes courage in the face of political persecution, Human Rights Watch said today.

The Hellman/Hammett grants, administered by Human Rights Watch, are given annually to writers around the world who have been targets of political persecution or human rights abuses. The grant program began in 1989 when the American playwright Lillian Hellman willed that her estate be used to assist writers in financial need as a result of expressing their views.

“Chheang Bopha and Duong Sokha represent a small minority among Cambodia’s press corps who dare to challenge corrupt and politically biased institutions through their writings and their actions,” said Sara Colm, senior Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Bopha, 28, and Sokha, 27, worked as reporters at Cambodge Soir, Cambodia’s leading French language daily newspaper. They quit in 2007 to protest the dismissal of a colleague who was fired for writing about a report by Global Witness, an international environmental organization, that documented the alleged complicity of top government officials in illegal logging.

Striking Cambodian staff elected Sokha as their spokesperson to demand that Cambodge Soir reinstate the fired journalist and guarantee editorial independence. The newspaper’s owners responded by closing the paper and reopening it several months later under new editorial management. Most of the former employees eventually returned to work without reassurances of editorial independence, but Sokha and Bopha refused despite intense pressure to do so.

They both pursued far less lucrative work in journalism teaching before eventually joining forces with other journalists to start an independent internet publication in Cambodian and French, Ka-Set (http://www.ka-set.info). Bopha will soon be leaving to pursue a master’s degree in journalism at the Training Center for Professional Journalists in Paris.

“In a climate of increased suppression of free expression and attacks against independent media – including from the highest levels of the government – few journalists dare challenge the system,” said Colm. “Sokha and Bopha aim to uphold professional media standards in a country with few truly independent media outlets.”

Ka-set was the brainchild of a group of four former Cambodge Soir journalists and a Magnum photojournalist. Originally launched in March 2008 with the journalists’ own money, the internet publication uses a multimedia approach to cover a wide range of issues – politics, justice, human rights, economics, Khmer Rouge, environment, culture and society. Access is free, and income comes from advertising, although the team, now numbering 10, is currently seeking additional support.

“The rare professional skills, ethics and courage exhibited by Duong Sokha and Chheang Bopha should be applauded and encouraged, especially at a time when independent journalism in Cambodia is increasingly at risk,” said Colm.

The Cambodian government controls all broadcast media and regularly suspends, threatens, or takes legal action against journalists or news outlets that criticize the government. In addition, reporters risk dismissal, physical attack, or even death for coverage of controversial issues. Earlier this month, for example, gunmen shot and killed Khim Sambo, a journalist for Moneaksekar Khmer (Khmer Conscience), a newspaper affiliated with the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP).

“As political power is increasingly consolidated in Cambodia in the run-up to the July 27 national elections, so is control over the media,” said Colm.

In June, military police arrested Moneaksekar Khmer editor, Dam Sith, who is also running as a SRP candidate in the elections, after the paper reported on allegations about the current foreign minister’s role during the Khmer Rouge regime.

In 2007, a reporter in Pursat Province was the victim of two attempted arson attacks on his home, which the local police chief attributed to the reporter’s coverage of illegal logging. In June 2007, the government banned Global Witness’s report on illegal logging. Journalists who covered the report and people who helped prepare it received anonymous death threats.

Bopha holds bachelor’s degrees in French literature from Phnom Penh University and in management from the National University of Management. At Cambodge Soir she covered the human rights beat, vividly documenting the plight of Khmer Rouge victims, garment workers, women, ethnic minorities and children. She has also worked as a correspondent for Radio France International, Radio Free Asia, and International Press Service. In 2003, she assisted with the production of a documentary film, “Les Artistes du Theatre Brulé”, by Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh. Bopha has also taught print journalism at the Royal University of Phnom Penh.

Sokha studied French at the Royal University of Phnom Penh. During his four years at Cambodge Soir, Sokha was known for his reporting on justice, human rights and politics. In addition, he has worked as a French lecturer at the Royal University of Law and Economics, an event promoter for the Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center, and a television reporter for “Cambodian Voices,” broadcast on TV-9 in Cambodia.

“Though young, both Bopha and Sokha are respected for their leadership and integrity during and after the newspaper strike, as well as their hard-hitting coverage of social issues and human rights,” said Colm.

Since 1989, Human Rights Watch has administered the Hellman/Hammett awards, which have been given to nearly 700 writers – including 10 Cambodians – over the 19 years of the program. The Hellman/Hammett program also makes small emergency grants to writers who have an urgent need to leave their country or who need immediate medical treatment after serving prison terms or enduring torture.