Abou-Gor wrote:
So why, iyo, do they even exist? Especially when we have some great reporting recently coming out of both the PPP and CD.
There were a few foreign reporters there that started to make a mark and offer something that both the other papers weren't. But then the reorganization happened. or so it seemed.
It's hard to know what its purpose. It clearly isn't a sustainable business, but then again neither are PPP or CD, from what I hear and it would be interesting to better understand who finances them and why also.
But re Khmer Times, I've yet to meet anyone who has ever bought a copy - mostly piles of them lay forlornly unread for free even in BKK1 coffee shops.
You're right about them having one or two good young journalists like Jack Lau for a while, but they soon upped and left, and understandably so. Now they are left with a highly experienced and decent editor presiding over a completely Khmer editorial staff, although I'm guessing they are a step up from the drunken hijinks of the former senior expat editors.
It's a massive clusterfuck of a publication.
Here, incidentally, is there response to the CD story. While insisting they are independent, they pointedly ignore the accusation about funding:
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/36080/ ... ily-story/
Response to Cambodia Daily story
A report in yesterday’s Cambodia Daily cited hacked emails, texts and social media messages that were erroneous and malicious, but the Cambodia Daily went ahead and published them despite being warned of legal consequences.
To set the record straight, Khmer Times’ editorial content has never been influenced by the government or anybody else, and in fact the government threatened to take legal action against Khmer Times for a report we published on allegations of corruption against a Cambodian diplomat posted overseas.
That report proved to be true and the government withdrew its legal action against Khmer Times. At the time, no other papers in Cambodia reported on the government’s threat to take action against Khmer Times.
Khmer Times has an independent newsroom and employs some of Cambodia’s most experienced journalists, many of them international media award winners for their reporting in Cambodia over a long period of time.
The journalists at Khmer Times value their independence and their freedom to report on any stories in the public interest.
Khmer Times’ publisher is now having discussions with lawyers about taking legal action against the Cambodia Daily for its malicious report in yesterday’s paper that contained information that had not been verified in any way and was an attempt to tarnish and damage the reputation of this newspaper.
Alan Parkhouse,
Editor-in-Chief,
Khmer Times.