Media by Government: Use and Impact in Cambodia

MEDIA BY GOVERNMENT: USE

AND IMMAPCT

Royal University of Phnom PenhDept. of Media and CommunicationMedia and SocirtyMarch 15, 2014By Mao Chandaly, San Sel & Som Rina

CONTENTS

I. Public and Private Media: Moving to Freedom of Expression (by Mao Chandaly)

II. New Media: From Free to Limit (by San Sel)III. International regulation: Overview on

the media environment on the planet

(by Som Rina)

PUBLIC & PRIVATE MEDIA AGENCY

• Newspaper, TV, Radio: News, education, entertainment, etc.

• 30 newspapers are published regularly, 160 radio stations, and 11 TV stations. (Ministry of Information, 2012 and 2013)

• Print media faces less government restriction than broadcast media.

• 2% of Cambodian, mostly in urban areas, read newspaper (Un, Kheang. 2011. Cambodia: Moving away from democracy?)

• Radio are highly regulated • TV is the most tightly controlled

medium• CPP received on average more

broadcasting time in all TV than any other political party. (COMFREL report on the 2012 commune election)

REGULATION OF MEDIA

• Media license • Content control• Ownership

MEDIA LICENSE

• Newspaper require a license from MOI according to Press Law article 8 and 9, but TV and Radio also need a license

• MOI make a license decision

• TV can easily hold the broadcast license because the owners are close to government side

• Mam Sonando applied for television license and expansion of radio reach

CONTENT CONTROL

• Cambodian government bans foreign broadcasting ahead of elections (VOA , 2013)

OWNERSHIP RULES

• All of Cambodia’s eight television stations are aligned with the ruling party and all news bulletins are politically biased. (LICADHO Briefing Paper. 2009. Restrictions on the Freedom of Expression in Cambodia’s Media)

• Bayon TV owned by Mr. Hun Sen’s daughter• CTN, CNC, MyTV owned by Kith Meng• Other TV stations owned by people in CPP• Television features lengthy speeches by the prime

minister and government ceremonies. (Roberts, Margarette. The Media Map Project: Cambodia. 2011)

IMPACT OF THE REGULATION OF MEDIA

• Media professionals• Freedom of speech• Freedom of information• RFA reporter Lim Piseth, receiving death

threat in 2008 as he reported on illegal logging in Kampong Thom province, said “We can’t express our opinions, we don’t have enough freedom in writing, we can only have a level of writing for one’s favor”. (VOA, 2010)

• Through the use of new media and digital tools, young activists of both genders are able disseminate views on impact social and political issues, including country’s besieged environment resources

(Freedom House, 2013).• There are 2.7 million Internet

users in March 2013 (Ministry of Posts and Telecommunication, 2013).

FACEBOOK

• The number of Cambodian Facebook subscriptions who have registered over 900,000 increased by 31 per cent between May 2012 and March 2013 that (Social Backers, 2013).

• Facebook is the primarily an entertainment website to an alternative news resource and platform tor self-expression (Sophat, 2013).

• Facebook, a recent and to date media tool in Cambodia, hasn’t been subject to censor by government (Sophat, 2013).

• Opposition party uses Facebook to spread issues of human rights, social justice, corruption. education, and unemployment (Sophat, 2013).

• “The government has no policy to close Facebook, but I would like to appeal to people not to let Facebook become a tool to damage social stability and insult people. The government encourages youth to use Facebook, we encourage them to use [the internet] and the speed should be fast so that they can share updated news. We can take advantage of Facebook to serve the people’s interest,” Prime Minister Hun Sen said (Colin, 2013)

• Polices use the threat of deformation against a teacher after he described the Phnom Penh Police impounding his new motorbike on his Facebook account (CCHR, 2013).

• There is 3,000 bloggers in the Kingdom (VOA, 2013).

• Cambodian bloggers age between 20 and 29, and are well educated. Most topics talk about personal experience, and a few blogs about politics (DMC, 2010).

• Since 2011, At least three blogs hosted oversea have been blocked for content criticized government (Freedom House, 2013).

MOBILE PHONE

• 98, 131, 10• There are about 19 million mobile phones in

Cambodia – 1.3 phones for each of the country’s 15 million people (Colin, 2013)

• It’s been used by the politic parties as a election campaign tool during 2007 and 2013 election. Moreover, in 2013 national election, National Election Committee (NEC) used the voice-based information service to provide voting detail (Freedom House, 2013).

• MPTC has attempted to limit the phone service’s price, and wanted to ban the bonus for the users in April 2013. But after the complain from the public, the ministry has lifted the ban (Freedom House, 2013).

FUTURE REGULATION

• A stated-run exchange was introduced in early 2010 to control all ISPs with the declared aims of strengthening internet security. Yet, it’s been delayed because of the opposition and internal government’s comments (Freedom House, 2013).

• “There is no independent regulatory body overseeing the digital landscape in Cambodia and controls are implemented through ad hoc internal circulars,” Freedom House, 2013.

• The government planned to organize bi-monthly meeting to review websites and block those in conflict with national value affecting Khmer morality and tradition and the government (The Phnom Penh Post, 2011).

• In May 2012, the Royal Government of Cambodia is drafting its first cyber law, a move designed to prevent “ill-willed groups or individuals” from spreading false information (The Phnom Penh Post, 2012).

• The law will limit the freedom of expression and punish traditional journalists via the use of existing criminal deformation and incitement law (Freedom House, 2013).

“The draft law has contributions from the National Information and Communications Technology Development Authority, or Nida, the Council of Ministers, the National Bank of Cambodia, and the ministries of Commerce and Telecommunications, though it has not reached the top level of any of these for approval. That means it will take a long time to draft and approve for legislation,” Khieu Kanharith Information Minister.

(VOA, 2013).

• I’m concerned that the law could be used to justify suppression of Internet freedom in the country,” blogger Sorn Ramana. (VOA, 2013)

• “It solely involves tools for protecting formal, private and copy-righted data from hacking, or the destruction of users’ formal data, especially banks and related institutions. The law will not be used to censor digital content like letters, photographs, video and other media, or to limit freedom of expression online,” Phay Siphan Government spokesman.

(VOA, 2013)

INTERNATIONAL REGULATION

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA REGULATION

• The media control system is significantly national institutions.

• Adopted regulations are centered on “technical and trade matter” in international stage.

UNESCO: PRINCIPLES OF MASS MEDIA CONTRIBUTION FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE

• In Article VII, VIII, V and VI, all the organization or agency that practice their profession in media field must eliminate the inequalities of free flow information in the third world.

• Mass Media itself has a role to educate people about human rights, political and social program and make the voice of young generation be heard.

BROADCASTING PRINCIPLES

• The ultimate goal in regulating broadcast is to balance the gender equity in broadcasting.

• registration to get license of broadcasting is not necessary anymore.

• the broadcasting institution should be well-protected from influence of political party and commercial in media content

PRINTING PRINCIPLES

• Censorship on the content of media poses a problematic on freedom of expression and should be avoided.

• There should be no law require media institution to oblige to report any message from public figure.

INTERNET

• Both international and national level should encourage people to use internet and create no law that restrict the content in internet.

• The internet should be considered like other media form such as print and broadcast.

• Social media like Facebook, twitter, the government attempt to regulate law remains unmoved.

• Government to regulate the internet domain name in order to control the content should be stopped.

THANK YOU!