Foreword to this blog added September 2017.
Very sadly things in Cambodia have taken a dramatic downturn for the worst in Press and Media Freedom. By far the worst development is the closure of the Cambodia Daily - precipitated by the hostile government - whose journalists have been a vital element in our human rights work for all of my 20 years in Cambodia. Numerous references and extracts appear in this blog. Many stories and eulogies appear, many from the many journalists all around the world whose career started there. See for example:
Richard Paddock. Also last edition after almost 25 years
here and visit the Daily's
Facebook. See also
CCIM's report on media generally in 2017.
The UK is 36, Cambodia 147, out of 197 countries for
Freedom of the Press 2014 according to Freedom House. We need Foreign Media to help Cambodian
Media.
Freedom of expression is a most important human right. Yet it is still routinely challenged in many
countries, whenever criticism upsets powerful people. I don’t intend to argue against that here. Instead I want to ask about self-censorship
and highly selective writing and editing, especially when editors decide that a
story or issue “would not interest our readers!” I wonder why certain kinds of stories always
make it. Often they are ones most lacking informed comment.
You will see from my blogging supporting
Cambodian child rights, that we are opposed to sex tourism; orphanage tourism; and things like
“gap year” stays that can be harmful and counter-productive.
