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On June 13 2007, the Cambodge Soir newspaper’s parent company told staff the paper had been closed due to bankruptcy.
A few days earlier French journalist Soren Seelow was summarily dismissed from his job as a reporter at Cambodge Soir and no clear reason was given for the firing. It is known that Seelow had written a series of articles about the report Cambodia’s Family Trees by Global Witness.
In particular, Seelow’s initial article, published on June 1 2007, had covered the report in extensive detail, including many of the allegations made against senior government officials.
The remaining editorial team at the newspaper immediately went on strike in support of Seelow, condemning his dismissal as illegal and the reasons behind it as vague and unjustified. Negotiations to end the strike at the French-language daily newspaper were unsuccessful and on June 13 2007, Philippe Monnin, director of the newspaper’s parent company, said the paper had been closed due to bankruptcy.
Reporters without Borders noted that Monnin was also employed by the French Development Agency to act as an adviser to the Cambodian Agriculture Ministry and Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun. Sarun is one of the government officials accused in Cambodia’s Family Trees of corruption and involvement in illegal logging. [1]
Monnin claimed he told Seelow that his article would “upset the authorities” and remarked that the protesting staff “doesn't have the same way of perceiving the development of the country".
Several months after Cambodge Soir’s closure, the paper was reopened by its management, with its content taking a noticeably softer tone toward the government.
According to a 2008 report prepared by the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADO) entitled Reading Between The Lines: How Politics, Money and Fear Control Cambodia's Media, the major Khmer-language newspapers are closely controlled by political parties or influential individuals who use the newspapers for their own propaganda, while dozens of others are merely tools for collecting bribes. The press may be relatively free in terms of quantity of publications, but not in quality and independence.
It may no surprise that when The Asia Foundation asked Cambodians in 2003 who they would like to hear election related information from, only 15% of respondents cited newspapers while 33% preferred comic books.
APPENDIX
1 Global Witness wrote a letter to Chan Sarun in February 2007 to ask for his comments on the main issues raised in this report as involve or relate to him. At the time of the report’s publication, Global Witness had not received a response. For information on the content of this letter to Chan Sarun, please contact Global Witness via mailto:mail@globalwitness.org.
John Brown Photojournalist On LIGHTSTALKERS
My Mondo Library Photography
My Photoshelter Photography Archive Homepage
On June 13 2007, the Cambodge Soir newspaper’s parent company told staff the paper had been closed due to bankruptcy.
A few days earlier French journalist Soren Seelow was summarily dismissed from his job as a reporter at Cambodge Soir and no clear reason was given for the firing. It is known that Seelow had written a series of articles about the report Cambodia’s Family Trees by Global Witness.
In particular, Seelow’s initial article, published on June 1 2007, had covered the report in extensive detail, including many of the allegations made against senior government officials.
The remaining editorial team at the newspaper immediately went on strike in support of Seelow, condemning his dismissal as illegal and the reasons behind it as vague and unjustified. Negotiations to end the strike at the French-language daily newspaper were unsuccessful and on June 13 2007, Philippe Monnin, director of the newspaper’s parent company, said the paper had been closed due to bankruptcy.
Reporters without Borders noted that Monnin was also employed by the French Development Agency to act as an adviser to the Cambodian Agriculture Ministry and Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun. Sarun is one of the government officials accused in Cambodia’s Family Trees of corruption and involvement in illegal logging. [1]
Monnin claimed he told Seelow that his article would “upset the authorities” and remarked that the protesting staff “doesn't have the same way of perceiving the development of the country".
Several months after Cambodge Soir’s closure, the paper was reopened by its management, with its content taking a noticeably softer tone toward the government.
According to a 2008 report prepared by the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADO) entitled Reading Between The Lines: How Politics, Money and Fear Control Cambodia's Media, the major Khmer-language newspapers are closely controlled by political parties or influential individuals who use the newspapers for their own propaganda, while dozens of others are merely tools for collecting bribes. The press may be relatively free in terms of quantity of publications, but not in quality and independence.
It may no surprise that when The Asia Foundation asked Cambodians in 2003 who they would like to hear election related information from, only 15% of respondents cited newspapers while 33% preferred comic books.
APPENDIX
1 Global Witness wrote a letter to Chan Sarun in February 2007 to ask for his comments on the main issues raised in this report as involve or relate to him. At the time of the report’s publication, Global Witness had not received a response. For information on the content of this letter to Chan Sarun, please contact Global Witness via mailto:mail@globalwitness.org.
John Brown Photojournalist On LIGHTSTALKERS
My Mondo Library Photography
My Photoshelter Photography Archive Homepage
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