 |
| Information Minister Khieu Kanharith speaks in Phnom Penh yesterday at an event to mark World Press Freedom Day. Press freedom has become worse in the Kingdom, according to a US watchdog. (Photo by: Heng Chivoan |
Wednesday, 04 May 2011
Mary Kozlovski and Kim Yuthana
The Phnom Penh Post
The targeting of Cambodian journalists through defamation and disinformation legislation and the closure of an opposition newspaper were responsible for a decline in the Kingdom’s world ranking for press freedom last year, according to a report released yesterday.
According to the Freedom of the Press 2011 report, released by United States-based watchdog organisation Freedom House in conjunction with World Press Freedom Day, Cambodia’s press freedom ranking plunged to 141 for 2010 out of 196 countries and territories rated, compared with a ranking of 134 for 2009.
The report described Cambodia as “not free” and declared that the number of people worldwide with access to free and independent media had dropped to its lowest level in over a decade.
Cambodia’s ranking also declined within the Asia-Pacific region to 30 in 2010 out of 40 countries and territories, compared with a ranking of 29 in 2009. “Cambodia’s score … deteriorated due to an aggressive use of disinformation and defamation legislation against journalists, as well as a reduction in media diversity following the closure of an opposition newspaper,” the report said.
No comments:
Post a Comment