Press Freedom in Cambodia

This year Cambodia scores much lower on the yearly Press Freedom list by Reporters sans Frontieres. The country has gone down to 126th place.

According to the website this is mainly a result of a journalist’s murder that was probably instigated by a police officer, and the fact that control of the media was stepped up for the parliamentary elections. Also, in Cambodia (as in many other countries) it is strictly forbidden to report anything that reflects badly on the president or monarch, or their family and close associates.

Would you expect press freedom to be much better in Thailand? No way: that country ranks 124th. That's higher than last year, when Thailand ranked 135 due to the restrictions after a military coup in September.

Back to Cambodia: last year this country ranked 85th, so the plunge to 126th is quite steep. And I'm afraid it won't get any better after populair news host Cheng Chivoan resigned from CTN-television. He was famous for his reports about sensitive issues like land grabbing and illegal logging.