The campaign has mostly revolved around mischaracterizing statements from Cambodia National Rescue Party co-founder Sam Rainsy. Authorities have also released over 30 seemingly forced “confession” videos from his supporters.

Following a strong showing in the 2017 commune elections, the CNRP was dissolved for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government, allowing Prime Minister Hun Sen to claim all 125 seats in parliament.

Party president Kem Sokha was arrested for treason and served one year in prison before being transferred to house arrest where he remains today. Rainsy, who fled the country to avoid similarly politically motivated convictions in 2015, has now pledged to return on November 9.

Rainsy’s return has been labeled a coup attempt, and Cambodians have been warned that they will face five to ten years in prison for supporting it. Dozens of CNRP supporters have been arrested in recent weeks, with total detainees at over 50 this year.

In an attempt to intimidate critics, the government’s propaganda arm, the Press and Quick Reaction Unit, recently began releasing videos of CNRP supporters “confessing” to participating in the coup and condemning Rainsy.

Former CNRP commune chief Seng Sokhorn turned herself in on October 10, with the PQRU releasing a video of her confessing that same day.

In her video, where she seems to be reading an off-camera script, Sokhorn said she first joined the CNRP because she believed Rainsy did good things for the community. She said recently, Rainsy has tried to “persuade people to stand up, persuade army officials to go against the government, and look down on the king”.

Sokhorn then said she understands now that these “activities are treason”. “I want to condemn all the activities that Sam Rainsy has done,” she said. “Citizens who walk the wrong way like I did, please turn back to support the government and help ensure and protect the security of Cambodia.”

The video was also posted to Facebook by pro-government news outlet Fresh News. There, most of the commenters expressed pity for Sokhorn and claimed she was reading a pre-written message. Some called it a “trick” and a “sham”.

Rainsy said the confessions were a “terrifying and disgusting” strategy and compared them to forced confessions extracted from prisoners under the Khmer Rouge.

“They are all fake confessions made under duress,” he said in an email to Coda. 

Digital spaces are tightly controlled by authorities in Cambodia. Coda Story recently published an account of phone taps and conversation leaks which were posted online in an attempt to silence critics of the government.

Rainsy’s pledge to return to Cambodia on November 9, during annual Independence Day celebrations, has been met with skepticism, as it marks the third time he has promised to return this year. The government, however, seems to be taking it seriously, initiating what human rights groups have called the most repressive crackdown in years.

Sokhorn was released on bail, while other activists have been sent to pre-trial detention. Since then, Fresh News has published at least 13 other confession videos.

Chak Sopheap, director of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, said the government continues to “harass members of the opposition”, citing a recent “spike in the arbitrary arrest and detention of CNRP activists”.

“The Royal Government of Cambodia must ensure adherence to international human rights standards at all times, including the principle that no statements obtained illegally, including forced confessions, are admissible in judicial proceedings,” she said via email.

Prime Minister Hun Sen has encouraged Rainsy supporters to confess to avoid punishment.

“If you have already unintentionally participated, you can confess and will be exempt from punishment,” Hun Sen said in a recent speech.

Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, said the confessions are “clearly forced”, but may “backfire”.

“It will remind some of the bad old days of communist rule, when self-criticism and confessions underpinned a repressive political order,” he said, comparing it to other single party dictatorships like China, Vietnam, and North Korea.

The PQRU, which is under the auspices of the Council of Ministers, has a history of spreading fake news against the CNRP.

Weeks before the CNRP’s dissolution, the PQRU broadcast a 45-minute long video attempting to link the opposition to color revolutions in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

The video showed the clenched fist logo of Canvas, an organization that participated in the mostly peaceful overthrow of former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic. Next, the video showed images of CNRP figures holding clenched fists, attempting to link the two.

The attempt to link activities by opposition groups to revolutions in the Middle East and Eastern Europe is not new. In 2018, the Cambodian government released a book detailing efforts to root out foreign influence. The book also criticized foreign media outlets like Voice of America and Radio Free Asia for exaggerating events “in order to poison the social environment.” 

Cambodian authorities have also weighed in on the recent anti-government protests in Hong Kong which have seen demonstrators rally against China’s perceived meddling in the former British colony. Earlier this summer, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation expressed support for China’s “one country, two systems” principle, and said it wanted to see a return to normality in Hong Kong.

Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, said the video confessions were “voluntarily” given.

“These are not legitimate political activities, it’s a coup d'etat,” he claimed in a recent interview. Siphan denied that it was inappropriate to film and broadcast confessions.

“This is not a private matter, it’s a public matter. We have to protect against anyone who tries to topple the legitimate government,” he said.

Government counter initiatives also include mischaracterizing comments by Rainsy, and pushing false narratives. While Rainsy has called for a “popular uprising” and urged members of the armed forces to defect — he explicitly called for nonviolent action. Hun Sen, however, accused him of “an armed rebellion” and threatened to deploy the armed forces.

Rainsy said the government was adopting tactics previously used by the Khmer Rouge. “Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge military commander, has obviously retained the Khmer Rouge mentality and mindset,” he wrote.

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The post Cambodia launches online disinfo campaign to repress opposition groups appeared first on Coda Story.

When Sun Bunthon and Nou Phoeun were brought in by the police, they were surprised to hear them read out a transcript of a private phone call. 

The men had spoken about the political situation, encouraging the return of the party’s exiled co-founder Sam Rainsy, who has been charged with treason and a host of other politically motivated crimes.

The pair’s lawyer, Sam Sokong, declined to speak about the case over the phone, preferring to meet in person. 

“The CNRP activists feel afraid to converse on their phones,” said Sokong. “I cannot talk about any serious thing on the phone.”

Sokong said he was in the room with his clients when the police read the transcript. He said the police had no warrant giving them permission to record, but did so anyway because it was a matter of “national security”.

While these were the first arrests definitively linked to phone tapping in over a year, Cambodia has a long history of pressing criminal charges over private phone conversations. 

Even before technological advancements allowed the Cambodian government to access its citizens’ phones, surveillance was a part of life.

Coffee vendor Samnang* was a young boy when the totalitarian Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia in the 1970s, but he still remembers the sinister slogans about Angkar and its all-seeing eyes. “Angkar has the many eyes of a pineapple.”

The communist regime used manipulative rhetoric along with brute force to intimidate and control ordinary Cambodians. In less than four years, an estimated two million people died. The families of those accused of being traitors were often killed along with the offender, including infants. (“When pulling out the weeds, remove the roots and all.”)

At the center of it all was Angkar, an omniscient entity that embodied the ruling party. 

The Khmer Rouge convinced ordinary Cambodians that any transgression, even stealing a grain of rice, would be discovered and punished. “Everyone would report another’s mistakes and Angkar knew everything,” Samnang said.

While primarily Buddhist, Cambodian animist beliefs are teeming with spirits and ghosts, and many survivors describe Angkar as a supernatural entity. 

Academic researcher Peg LeVine, who testified as an expert witness at the trial of the Khmer Rouge leaders, said “many victims perceive Angkar as an ‘it’ with timeless omnipresence.”

A trauma psychologist and anthropologist, LeVine conducted a decade of filmed research into the effects of the Khmer Rouge and what she coined as "ritualcide".  

LeVine concluded that the Khmer Rouge did not purposefully create Angkar, but rather the belief that there was “an invisible possessing force that can read and infiltrate people’s minds” arose organically through ritualistic and ancestral influences.

In a nation that is still collectively suffering from the trauma experienced under the Khmer Rouge, it is easy to take advantage of these latent fears to achieve new goals.

Enter Seiha, a modern upgrade to Angkar that listens to phone conversations, intercepts text messages, which it feeds back to Hun Sen. Originally a little-known Facebook page, Seiha rose to notoriety in 2016 when the page began hosting recordings of secretly leaked phone calls. Seiha played a crucial role in attacks on the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), the country’s main opposition party, exposing internal conflicts, sex scandals, and allegedly “defamatory” criticisms of the government. Seiha’s message reached even wider audiences when it became a mainstay of government propaganda machine, Fresh News, a highly-ranked news site. Videos posted on Seiha’s page were immediately redistributed by Fresh News, reaching an audience of millions.

Together, Fresh News and Seiha created a climate of paranoia, where some fear even ordinary people could find their phones tapped.

“To the extremist group, please be careful. Seiha listens every day,” Hun Sen once warned the CNRP.

LeVine said it would be “creepy” and “cruel” if the Cambodian government is purposefully invoking memories of Angkar through surveillance.

“As survivors have told me how Angkar enters their night terrors, today — one can only imagine the shadow of Seiha,” she said. 

Before CNRP leader Kem Sokha was charged with treason, Seiha circulated conversations between Sokha and an alleged mistress, culminating in a prostitution charge. (Sokha evaded arrest by holing up in CNRP headquarters for months until a royal pardon deescalated political tensions.)

At the time, Anti-Corruption Unit director Om Yentieng admitted, “we can tap whatever we want”. 

Another politician, Lu Lay Sreng, fled the country after Seiha leaked a recorded phone call of him insulting the king and accusing the ruling party of corruption.

While only the government has the authority to monitor phone conversations, no investigation has ever been conducted into Seiha’s identity, suggesting official affiliation. Hun Sen’s own son serves as the head of the military’s intelligence department, while his son-in-law holds a similar position in the national police.

Since 2018, Seiha has been relatively quiet and may even be dormant. That makes sense: the CNRP, the biggest opposition party, is banned, most of its leaders have fled, and party president Kem Sokha is under house arrest. But the long shadow cast by Seiha continues to be felt. Activists in civil society, labor unions, politicians, and even regular Cambodians continue to report that they are being monitored — with many making direct reference to Seiha. 

Climate of fear 

“Seiha is Hun Sen,” Kosal* said confidently, echoing the general public opinion that Seiha is part of the government’s security apparatus. As a CNRP supporter, Kosal asked not to be identified due to an ongoing crackdown that has seen opposition activists arrested and beaten.

Kosal arrived at the café where we met wearing a tan button-down shirt with matching slacks. His glasses were perched delicately on his nose. Born to a rural farming family, Kosal, came to Phnom Penh to study Khmer literature, abandoning his agrarian roots for academia.

An open supporter of the opposition party, Kosal said he used to make Facebook posts critical of the government. In 2017, his account was hacked and he couldn’t recover it. Kosal signed up for Facebook through his phone number, and believes the government used that to take over his account. 

“I very rarely use the normal call function because they listen to everything,” he said, explaining that he uses Signal messaging app to discuss politics.

He said other CNRP supporters he knows are also fearful.

“We are afraid they would arrest us, they would harass us, they would capture us like Kem Sokha. When we talk about politics we have to be very careful,” he explained. 

Ever since the CNRP’s dissolution, a pall of fear has gripped the country. Members of the party continue to be arrested at a regular pace, and ordinary Cambodians are afraid to talk about anything even tangentially related to politics. 

At the same time, Cambodian access to social media continues to skyrocket, with Facebook users rising from 6.8 million to 8.8 million in the last year. But the platform remains fraught with danger, as users are regularly arrested for social media posts that criticize the government. Speaking to the press is also risky — a tuktuk driver was summoned for questioning in August after speaking to the South China Morning Post.

Human rights organizations routinely criticize the government for widespread abuses and Cambodia consistently ranks among the worst countries for corruption and judicial independence. Despite this, Hun Sen’s grip on the country remains iron-clad with financial and economic support from his closest ally, China.

To maintain power, Hun Sen banks on the country’s steady economic growth and its history of horrific violence, often invoking the memory of the Khmer Rouge as a warning against any attempt at a revolution.

CNRP supporter Tum Bunthorn was more defiant, even mockingly suggesting that he’d like Hun Sen to listen to everything he says.

“Technically the CNRP is dissolved, but in our heart it is still there,” he said in reference to the now-banned opposition party. “I’m not scared that they would listen to me. I even want them to know what I say so that the people will also know,” he added.

Fresh-faced and animated, everything Bunthorn said sounded light-hearted, but when he spoke of his wife and 8-month-old child, his mood changed. Since our interview, he has been arrested and charged with plotting a coup. 

“My wife keeps telling me not to involve in politics. She’s worried I could be arrested or killed. It’s hard for her and hard for me too,” he said, during our interview. “But I need to think about the country.”

With 65 percent of the population under 30, most Cambodians did not live through the Khmer Rouge, but the communist regime remains ever present in daily life. Hun Sen props up his political legitimacy by describing himself as the savior of Cambodia from the Khmer Rouge while warning that chaos will return if he ever leaves office. 

Academic researcher Peg LeVine said despite Cambodia’s modernization, the younger generation also “intuits” the fears and anxieties of their elders. 

“All in all, a creepy kind of fear would immobilize receivers of Seiha’s surveillance — particularly when memories of Angkar are being stirred. Such ‘omnipresent’ messages would affect all ages,” she said.

Still, it’s not just the politically active that Seiha seemed to target.

When an unnamed brain surgeon allegedly badmouthed the Prime Minister’s eldest daughter, Hun Sen warned: “I know your face, name, residence and that you are a brain surgeon; you should not be a fool like this.” He later added, “Seiha heard that and shared to me.”

A digital Angkar

Bunthorn was a young child during the years when the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia. 

He said Angkar served the same purpose that Seiha does today. “For example, during the Khmer Rouge, if you talked upstairs, the Angkar will stay under your house so it’s the same as Seiha is doing now,” he said.

But Seiha is not the same as Angkar. It’s not as total, nor as mystical. As Alexander Laban Hinton, professor of anthropology at Rutgers University, Newark, wrote in “Why Did They Kill? Cambodia in the Shadow of Genocide”, “Angkar supplanted Buddhism as the new ‘religion’.” Hinton called Angkar “totalistic, pervasive, and all-knowing”.

Seiha, in some ways, is more mundane, an Angkar for the post-Snowden era when surveillance reminds us less of all-seeing spirits and has more in common with powerful intelligence agencies like the National Security Agency. In 2017, when a conversation between Hun Sen and Sokha was leaked, the prime minister even jokingly compared Seiha to Western technology.

“I am surprised that the Facebook page, known as Seiha, is able to hack my conversation with Kem Sokha. Such equipment can only be used by the U.S., Israel or Germany,” he said sarcastically.

Paul Craig, head of offensive security for Singaporean cybersecurity firm Vantage Point, said it’s likely the government is getting direct access from the telecommunications companies. 

“I have worked with many telcos over SE Asia and all of them have [lawful intercept] capabilities. It’s usually a legal requirement for a telco/ISP [internet service provider] to provide LI to law enforcement in most countries,” he told Coda via email. 

“Typically LI access is governed by a legal framework and requires a warrant and strict legal protocols about what and who can be monitored,” Craig said. “However, without a clear and strong legal framework protecting the access this could be very easily abused.”

Cambodia has notoriously weak rule of law and its Law on Telecommunications has been criticized for being overly vague. The law allows phone tapping if approved by an undefined “legitimate authority” and requires that all telco companies provide information and data to the government if requested. 

Craig added that Cambodia’s deepening relationship with China should be a cause for concern. 

“China are becoming the surveillance masters of the world, and if Cambodia were setting up a China-esque surveillance program you may have reason to be worried,” he said. 

Coffee vendor Samnang has a harder time talking about the current political situation than the Cambodia’s brutal past.

“I know the government can do whatever they want, like listening to our conversation,” he said. “For the ordinary person like us we just try not to stand out”.

Kosal believes Seiha has disappeared because "everyone knows" Hun Sen is behind it in some way. Part of what made Seiha terrifying was its anonymity. Kosal thinks it could return in a different form. “They could choose different names or accounts, or use other means. For example, using fake news to attack people,” he said. 

* the names of individuals have been changed at their request.

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The post A digital echo of the Khmer Rouge haunts phones in Cambodia appeared first on Coda Story.

The arrest marked the culmination of a months-long smear campaign by Fresh News against Sokha, president of the now dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). Fresh News had linked Sokha to an American-backed conspiracy to overthrow prime minister Hun Sen’s Cambodia People's Party, which has led the country for more than three decades.

After Sokha was arrested, Fresh News continued its critical coverage with articles like "Why was Kem Sokha arrested? Listen to his confession of treason!" The story contained a link to a 2013 video of Sokha thanking the US for political support and detailing strategies for democratic change. The government claimed Sokha’s comments qualified as a “red-handed” crime, allowing Sokha to be stripped of his parliamentary immunity.

The rise to prominence of Fresh News as a key player in Cambodia’s authoritarian landscape has arrived amidst an unprecedented crackdown on free press and civil society which has reduced the country’s once-robust media to rubble. The fiercely critical Cambodia Daily was shut down in 2017 over a disputed tax bill, publishing its final edition the day of Sokha’s arrest.

Then, last year, Cambodia’s oldest independent newspaper—the Phnom Penh Post—was bought by new owners with close ties to the government, who have enforced strict censorship guidelines. A slew of independent radio stations have also been shuttered, silencing crucial voices and forcing Radio Free Asia to abandon its operations in the country.

The government’s appreciation of the kind of journalism practiced by Fresh News appears to be considerable—Hun Sen has compared Fresh News to news organizations like Reuters.

Throughout the crackdown on traditional media, the digital-first Fresh News has become one of Hun Sen’s most useful instruments with an outsized influence over political misinformation and propaganda. Launched in 2014 with 20 journalists and described as a “bludgeon” by then-independent newspaper the Phnom Penh Post, Fresh News is now the country’s third most visited local site and has led the war against critics of the Cambodian government by spreading unfounded conspiracy theories, leaking private phone calls between opposition politicians, and even helping to give shape to anti-democratic policies.

The media organization, which now employs 200 people across its online, television, radio, Facebook and YouTube platforms, is regularly granted exclusive interviews with high-ranking government officials, including Hun Sen, who almost never give interviews to other outlets. In Khmer, English, and Chinese, Fresh News has become the state’s third arm in an ongoing campaign of media repression.

The government’s appreciation of the kind of journalism practiced by Fresh News appears to be considerable—Hun Sen has compared Fresh News to news organizations like Reuters. “Fresh News now is not only being watched in the country but also abroad, and we also have a quick information system that is no worse than AFP, UPI, AP or Reuters,” he said in a speech in September 2017, days after Sokha’s arrest.

Government spokesman Phay Siphan told the Phnom Penh Post that Fresh News is “a space for the government to share the news”, and said that the platform receives its information directly from government sources.

The success of Fresh News can also be viewed in the light of criticism of investigative journalism in a number of other countries across the world. Just as President Donald Trump has described CNN as “fake news” while giving access to broadcasters like Fox News, and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has called news website Rappler Inc. a “fake news outlet”, Hun Sen has asked local and international journalists to tackle “fake news” under the pretext of preserving national security. “Even the countries that claim to respect freedom of speech are concerned about cybercrimes,” he said recently. “Some countries which are regarded as [fathers of democracy] have laws to prevent and punish fake news [perpetrators].”

Exclusives and Leaks

Pro-government since its launch, Fresh News took on a more active role in the summer of 2017, seemingly anticipating or even precipitating the government’s shift towards authoritarianism. Prior to Sokha’s arrest, the government shut down the National Democratic Institute, a US-funded pro-democracy organization that Fresh News claimed was also part of the plot to initiate a “color revolution” to topple the government like those in Eastern Europe and the Arab Spring. NDI was closed and its three foreign staff expelled, a decision that the government justified with materials leaked to Fresh News.

In January, three high-profile Cambodian activists were charged with “breach of trust” in a case widely seen as politically motivated. The men first found out about the charges against them when the court documents were published on Fresh News.

The documents originated from a meeting between NDI and the CNRP during which the groups discussed election campaign strategies. In its defense, NDI claimed they held similar training sessions with multiple parties, including Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP). Further evidence of Fresh News’s close ties with the government emerged when the platform released photographs of all three foreign NDI staff, taken during their exit from Cambodia at Phnom Penh International Airport. USAID released a statement condemning the “deeply disappointing” decision, while a number of US Senators, including John McCain, also denounced the move.

The document leak was part of a pattern. In contrast to other Cambodian media, Fresh News benefits from exclusive and regular access to government documents, including court summonses and arrest warrants which are made available to the public on the platform. In January, three high-profile Cambodian activists were charged with “breach of trust” in a case widely seen as politically motivated. The men first found out about the charges against them when the court documents were published on Fresh News.

Leaks broadcast by Fresh News have also created far-reaching legal troubles for critics. Former deputy Prime Minister for the Funcinpec party, Lu Lay Sreng, had the audio recording of a private phone call distributed by Fresh News in October 2017. During the call, Lay Sreng referred to the Cambodian king Norodom Sihamoni as a “castrated chicken” for not doing more to preserve democracy. Sreng also accused his former party of collaborating with the government to destroy the CNRP.

After Fresh News leaked the call, Lay Sreng was sued for defamation by Hun Sen and Funcinpec, despite the fact that the comments were made in a private conversation. Lay Sreng, now in his 80s, fled to the US immediately following the leak. No investigation has been opened into who illegally recorded and leaked the conversation.

Separately from conspiracies and leaks, Fresh News has also tried to aid the government in areas of policymaking. As the government prepared to dissolve the CNRP, Hun Sen wrestled with an international optics problem; how to maintain the illusion of multi-party democracy while excluding a party that received almost fifty percent of the vote. Fresh News provided the solution when an anonymous opinion writer suggested that the CNRP’s vacant seats be redistributed amongst minor parties based on percentages of the votes they received in the last national election. The government not only adopted this policy, but also used the exact formula suggested by the outlet, allocating seats to parties that won three percent of the vote or less.

At the helm of Fresh News is its CEO Lim Cheavutha, who openly boasts about his close relationship to the government and told Buzzfeed last January that “if [Prime Minister Hun Sen] wants to spread news he comes to me.” Cheavutha rubs shoulders with Cambodia’s political elite: he was pictured at the wedding of the daughter of Kith Meng, a politically active tycoon with close ties to Hun Sen.

In a more surreal episode, Cheavutha personally delivered $60,000 from Hun Sen to the family of activist and political commentator Kem Ley after his murder at a petrol station in 2016. The killing seemed to echo an era of political violence in Cambodia that many had hoped had passed. In a Facebook post, one leading Cambodian opposition figure, Sam Rainsy, called the killing an “assassination” and an “act of state terrorism.”

In a recent interview with Coda, Cheavutha denied any official links with the authorities, but defended his backing of the government. “Fake news in Cambodia are made up by some group of people because they don’t like or support the government,” he said.

He also said one role of Fresh News is to highlight government improvements to Cambodian society. “The government action has been trying to build, to develop, do good things to help the people in so many ways, it’s a lot to describe. So my idea—and as I am one of the Khmer, I see the real good action of the government—why I can’t publish it? Why I can’t publish it because the government is helping the society, helping poor citizens, helping to develop, building schools, donating to people affected by floods and many things else?” he said.

Despite all these intimate connections, Fresh News and the government have insisted that the outlet is financially independent.

Huy Vannak, who works for the Ministry of Interior and the Union of Journalist Federations of Cambodia, told the Southeast Asia Globe that he and Kith Meng helped Cheavutha when Fresh News first launched. Vannak insists they provided only advice and services.

“We Do Not Care”

However, in a recent interview with Coda, an employee at Fresh News said that the government funds the outlet. “The government helps us and provides us whatever we want,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The employee added that he has frequently seen Cheavutha contact Hun Sen directly.

Advertisers on Fresh News also reveal connections to the government. One of the most prominent advertisers is Tiger Beer, which is a major client of Hun Sen’s daughter’s advertising firm, Moon Media.

“Looking ahead, the media landscape in Cambodia will be characterized by an utter absence of independent voices capable of even loosely holding the government to account.”

In the years since Cambodia’s muzzling of the media, Fresh News has been singled out for criticism. The platform was the subject of a scathing review in the 2017 report by the Cambodian Center for Independent Media (CCIM), which ranked Fresh News the least independent outlet in the country. “Arguably the most controversial and notable player in the digital space is Fresh News, a go-to for government announcements that pushes the limits of news and opinion with attack pieces and leaks,” the report reads.

When asked about political bias, the anonymous employee said: “We do not care, we just do what our boss tells us to.” He continued: “It’s great because we earn a lot of money.”

The CCIM report also found that web analytics firm Alexa listed Fresh News as the country's third most visited local site.

The employee said Fresh News is home to about 100 employees, including 30 reporters. He said Cheavutha delegates most assignments, but personally approves major political stories before publication.

Lee Morgenbesser, Senior Lecturer at Griffith University’s School of Government and International Relations, said that it is a “meaningless exercise” to try to separate Fresh News from Hun Sen’s regime.

Morgenbesser, who was once described as an “enemy of the Cambodian people” by a government spokesman after he compared Fresh News to Russia Today, is pessimistic about the future of Cambodian media.

“Looking ahead, the media landscape in Cambodia will be characterized by an utter absence of independent voices capable of even loosely holding the government to account,” said Morgenbesser. “The slow eradication of the fourth estate by Hun Sen has left a cabal of state-owned, state-run and state-influenced media outlets. Fresh News is a symptom of that environment.”

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The post Fresh News and the Future of the Fourth Estate in Cambodia appeared first on Coda Story.