Meeting for Understanding and Solidarity between Leaders and Concerned Circles
Please allow me to seek your understanding that my wife would not make it to this event. This is the third year that we have been gathering. In the first meeting, there was a number of media persons, there were more in the second gathering and bigger number for this third meeting. I am sure we are going to have growing number of media professionals and I will have more chances to meet you all. I have made my agenda full with meetings – with journalists/media people, artistic and fine arts professionals, sportsmen/women, Cambodian Muslims, Chinese Associations, etc. Such meeting is for us to strengthen understanding and solidarity as a nation and between leaders and concerned circles […]
Technical and Legal Aspects of Phasing from Analog to Digital
Relating to what Minister of Information, HE Khieu Kanharith, brought up about phasing out from analog to digital set by ASEAN for 2020 and Cambodia has requested to reschedule to 2023, there would be two questions. Firstly, neighboring countries would have difficulties with continued analog broadcast from Cambodia, and secondly, analog would face its spare parts problem. We must reconsider this as to how far are we backtracking or shall we allow companies with resource and technical capability to take the step forwards? […] I must bring this up for our consideration so that we will be moving ahead with other countries into digital age […] I am asking concerned ministries – Information and Telecommunication, to think about this […]
The second issue concerning moving into digital is relating to legal aspect. We have the 1995-the Regime of the Press law but we should look into it to find out if any points needed to be amended. There could be three laws that should be consistent with one another – the Regime of the Press Law in 1995; Access to Information Law – HE Khieu Kanharith informed us that the draft of which has reached its adoption phase; and a newly required law on anti-cyber and information technology crimes […]
Certain Countries Concerned on Anti-Cyber and IT Crimes, and Fake News
Let me have your attention here that in the Asia-Europe Meeting in Brussels, many countries in Europe have expressed their concerns on information technology crimes and fake news. Countries known for democratic values have also introduced laws to fight against fake news and abuses of information technology. On this note, I am requesting concerned stakeholders to discuss this issue in order to come up with a framework for keeping them under control. Talking about this it is very likely that some would come out with comments that we are heading towards dictatorship because for them abuse of other people’s freedom through their media is what they need […]
Six Suggestions Regarding the Media/Journalism
In relation to media/journalism, I have a number of suggestions as followed.
Firstly, state and private media continue to uphold its role as a piece of glass that reflects the truth in society. I continue to demand that the media plays its role of reflecting the truth of the whole society. I made it clear last year that I would not want to have a reflection of a broken glass. It would give everyone a distorted reflection. People would either have less or overloaded information […]
Secondly, the media/journalists continue to serve as bridges from state to people at policy and implementation levels. I have seen in every form of media – writing press and audio-video ones working on passing on to people the Royal Government’s policies and regulations, and bringing back opinions and requests of our people to the state […] I watched this round-table discussion of Thmey Thmey Editor and I agreed with him that some people have had information-blocking or denial attitude. It is a fact. We give them information but they choose to watch something else. They may choose to enjoy Karaoke while we are telling them what is happening […] we need to work on that […]
Thirdly, looking for constructive criticism at policy and implementation levels […] we have endowed chance to the media/journalists to contribute their opinions at policy and implementation levels. They could do a lot to help improve situation and respond to people’s requirements. I am saying this because I have experiences managing a country for 34 years in three more days as Prime Minister of Cambodia […] I will continue to run in 2023 and that would park me by 2028 […]
Let Us “Bolster Cambodia’s Independence”
Before coming to this event with you, I have resolved some policies issues regarding how we run business in our country. I solicited Deputy Prime Minister’s efforts to launch a campaign to “bolster Cambodia’s independence.” We need to sort out a few things to make sure that even in case favorable conditions are not there one day, Cambodia would continue to survive. For instance, I decided to keep only immigration police and custom officers at the border points of entry/exit […] I wanted our media/journalists to take active parts in this policy making and implementation […] we still have this problem of under-the-desk deals in customs. We need to work on that […]
Fourthly, media to make strategic analysis on national, regional and international levels. I have received from some journalists the analysis they made on various topics. I am longing for more. I would not mind reading them even late at night […] I am saying this not only to the media and press but also to universities, etc. They should try to act as a think-tank of the Royal Government […]
Yesterday I followed this roundtable discussion on CNV TV. There was this talk about international standard. Let me ask what the international standard is. Anyone knows what it is or if it exists. I am of the opinion that international standard exists and/or applies only in sports […] there would not be a standard for information or politics […] countries are pursuing different elections systems, for example […]
Fifthly, media/press upholds professional value, refrains from incitements, insults, conflict making […] we must think of uplifting capacity to a professional level. Having said this, I am calling on Facebook users to stop scolding one another and using bawdy terms […] be with moral and virtue […] I also continue to ask every media/press professionals not to make their concluded remarks or act as a judge […]
Sixthly, abolish this incident of media/press extortion for money. I am calling on the media/press people not to act as justice police and they should not make it their rights to set up checkpoints […] there is also this sort of media/press covering up what happened to go unpublished in exchange for money […]
Seventhly, media/press persons and institutions take parts in fighting fake news. Fake news has been abundant in Cambodia. One minute Hun Sen was dead, and the next minute Hun Sen arrested so and so […] what should you do to combat fake news? The best way to clear them is to produce and broadcast real news […] sometimes I attached the news to respective Minister for his/her awareness and for him/her to take actions. Occasionally I see that he/she did not move. Let me stress here that if this attitude continues, by 2020 I would not keep him/her […]
Yesterday there was this suggestion for the Royal Government to create two or three more TV Channels for no-ad broadcast. I think we have many and we have not made use all of them yet. The key issue here is how to go about creating contents. Why do we create more when no one is making content […] I am calling here for us to strengthen our capacity. Let us campaign to become the fast and truth delivery media/press of what happened […]
Eighthly, improve human resource and conduct human resource training, while modernizing the media. I am calling on every media/press to give their attention on in-house human resource training in cooperation with local press associations and leadership of the Ministry of Information […] we may think of short-course training […] human resource training is a priority for every institutions, media/press is one of them […]
“Access to Information” Law
… In the fifth legislative term, the Ministry of Information spent on drafting a law on “access to information.” In this sixth legislative term, I think it should be ready. The law must be consistent with other laws related, for instance the Regime of the Press law in force since 1995, and the (required) law on anti-cyber and information technology crimes. There may need to have amendments of the law on the Regime of the Press to go along with the new laws […] what I am talking about now would go into roundtable discussion somewhere […] I thank media/press for delivering my messages to our people by their every means – radio, TVs, and online media […]./.
