The Cambodia Radio Journalists' Training Project provided a range of training activities to Cambodian journalists between 1999 and 2002. The idea behind the project was that improved flow of information could serve to strengthen Cambodia's fledgling democracy, and thus encourage political dialogue rather than violence as the method to resolve conflict. Training Cambodian radio journalists would facilitate that improved flow of information and the establishment of an independent, open, accountable radio media. Radio, in particular, was targeted for the project because it is the primary source of information for most Cambodians.
The Cambodia Journalists' Training Project was launched in September 1999 by the Vancouver, Canada-based Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society (IMPACS) with the stated goal of strengthening the peacebuilding process in Cambodia by assisting in the development of more independent, open and accountable radio media. According to Wayne Sharpe, who directed the project, "IMPACS strives to create an institution for public scrutiny that serves Cambodia's transition to democracy by improving the quality of information disseminated through the media and by increasing the flow of information through the development of radio journalism."
Sharpe argues that media has a crucial role to play both during times of conflict, when it is often manipulated by the combatants, and following the end of hostilities. Indeed, it is not uncommon for press freedom to be restricted following the end of hostilities, but such restrictions can 'reduce information available to the public that might help people understand the options available to them in the conflict reconciliation stage.' What can help, writes Sharpe, are activities such as media training and capacity building, support for independent or alternative media, protection of journalists and public awareness campaigns.
"[The media] is the natural place to start when working to prevent conflict in a war-affected society," he writes. But, he continues, because of Cambodia's media history, characterised by intimidation, imprisonment and assassination, the task is daunting, "In Cambodia," he adds, "tensions are heightened by journalists who are reckless in their reporting and officials who are too quick to stifle free expression." He believes that tensions can be eased between journalists and government if journalists can learn to be unbiased in their reporting.
Sharpe says that the idea for the Cambodian Journalists' Training Project was born in Vancouver in 1996 following a series of discussions between IMPACS' representatives and a prominent Cambodian journalist. When asked about the main needs of the Cambodian media, training figured prominently. IMPACS began monitoring the media situation in Cambodia in 1997, and in 1998, one week after Cambodia's general elections, IMPACS conducted a study to assess the feasibility of launching a journalists' training project in the country. The study included numerous interviews, during which considerable interest was expressed in a post-election media development initiative. The target group would be people who had already been working in the media and, significantly, were not politically aligned with any particular party.
IMPACS, which has an ongoing Media and Peacebuilding Program, chose radio as the focus of the project because, among other things, most Cambodians rely on radio as their primary source of information, and radio had not previously been targeted in international training efforts.
The media environment
The media environment in Cambodia is a mixed one. Under the Khmer Rouge regime
many intellectuals including local journalists were persecuted and up to one
third of them perished. Even after 1993, several journalists were murdered,
apparently because of stories they wrote. Since 1997, the situation has improved
and there has been progress towards the establishment of a free press, albeit
slow and uneven. Prime minister Hun Sen has declared his support for press freedom,
publicly praising the benefits to society of an unfettered media. Access to
information from the outside world is relatively open; there are, for example,
no restrictions on satellite dish ownership and foreign radio broadcasts can
be received easily from neighbouring countries. However, Hun Sen's declarations
notwithstanding, press freedom is still restricted. Two publications were forced
to suspend publication in 2001, and, when the government has perceived a threat,
it has moved to muzzle dissident media.
The national government, political parties, and local governmental entities control, either directly or by asserting a strong influence, a significant share of print and broadcast media. Such media suffer, therefore, from a lack of editorial independence. But privately owned newspapers do publish, and private radio and television broadcasters are also operating. Nonetheless, outside of the capital city of Phnom Penh, neither newspapers nor television play any significant role in providing information to the population. Radio, on the other hand, penetrates even to remote areas, sometimes via loudspeakers in the marketplace.
Activities and implementation
In implementing the Cambodia Journalists' Training Project, IMPACS worked with
several key local partners, including the Women's Media Centre, the Cambodian
Communications Institute and the Royal University of Phnom Penh. Funding was
provided by the Peacebuilding Fund of the Canadian International Development
Agency. The programme focused on developing skills in interviewing, writing,
editing, performance, and media ethics. The programme also aimed to give journalists
the capacity to undertake training on their own, and to strengthen and enhance
the capabilities of media development organisations working in Cambodia. In
some cases, IMPACS provided low-cost, mobile recording equipment to the participants.
Most of the participants were aspiring journalists who had come to appreciate the importance of the media in society. The majority were high school graduates who couldn't afford to attend university but had an interest in journalism, or had begun working in the media more or less by chance.
"What we do is train people for a market not there yet," Sharpe says. "The challenge is to find ways to bridge the cultural and knowledge differences between the trainers for the programme, who tend to come from the western world, and the Cambodian journalists who have little or no training and education in the field."
The first radio training course was conducted in November 1999. In February 2000, IMPACS conducted a course on media ethics with the staff of the Women's Media Centre. Trainer Susan Cardinal worked with the media centre's radio crew to produce the station's first live, current events radio show. In June 2000, radio training was conducted in Battambang for 26 regional media practitioners, marking the first session outside Phnom Penh. In November 2000, IMPACS organised a workshop entitled 'Media Development Funders Consultation' and in August 2001, it hosted a roundtable discussion to address proposals for laws to place controls on who could work as a journalist. The event was attended by members of the media, civil society and the government. In September 2001, the organisation conducted a business-consultation session with Khmer journalists on how to make their stations and publications financially viable.
Sharpe, who notes that media coverage of election campaigns had traditionally been monopolised by the ruling Cambodian People's Party, says that the impact of the training programme was apparent by the end of 2000, little more than a year after it began. "More voices were heard, different viewpoints ... shared and the dialogue between the government of Cambodia and its citizens [had] begun."
Still, there were significant challenges. For instance, training might focus on journalistic ethics and the maintenance of independence, but economic realities could exert pressure to compromise on total independence; wages average around $30 a month (versus the several hundred dollars a month journalists might earn as chauffeurs for international development agencies) and political players are nearly always willing to pay a small fee to reporters who will provide favourable coverage of an event or an issue. 'The saving grace for Cambodia's press,' writes Sharpe, 'is the sheer determination of its young generation of journalists. At the state-run FM96 radio station, journalists work without telephones, typewriters, and until recently, portable tape recorders. Until last year, they operated a 'rip-n-read' service, reading unverified stories from the daily papers on the air. With IMPACS training and equipment, the journalists gathered their own news stories for the first time. The station is now getting kudos from politicians and non-governmental leaders alike. Proof of the trust accorded to it is that it accomplished the once-unthinkable: cutting a one-hour speech by prime minister Hun Sen to a two-minute sound bite, without incurring official wrath.
In March 2001, IMPACS launched phase II of the Cambodian Journalists' Training Project in order to expand the training developed in phase I and help prepare the media for the country's first ever local-level, municipal elections on February 3rd, 2002, with the idea that in the run-up to the election, the media could play a pivotal role in informing the electorate of its rights and choices.
Ian Porter, professor of Journalism at Canada's King's College, and Patrick Nagle, a Canadian journalist, led a first round of political reporting and elections seminars at the Cambodia Communications Institute. IMPACS also provided training to students of journalism through the university programme, hosted a roundtable with international donor agencies, returned to Battambang for another broadcast training course for 30 area journalists, provided combined on-site radio and television training, trained dozens of women journalists through the Women's Media Centre, and delivered a media and messaging workshop for Cambodian NGOs.
Sharpe acknowledges that the Cambodian media needs to continue to improve. "It is an on-going process," he says. "We have done enough work there to feel confident there is now an environment where real journalism is done as standard practice. They [the Cambodian journalists] now have the skills and the discipline and the habits, which they can share with others. It is not the case everywhere but in many cases, the project is really sustainable and seems to be getting more sustainable with time."
Resources
Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society, IMPACS, Election Coverage Training
in Cambodia; A Report on the Cambodia Journalists' Training Project: campaign
coverage of the Commune Elections of February 3, 2002, February 2002 Sharpe,
Wayne, Cambodia: working with radio journalists to support a fragile democracy,
Activate, Winter 2001, available in PDF format at: www.impacs.org/pdfs/cambodia.pdf
www.bbc.com www.oneworld.org www.tvradioworld.com www.state.gov www.ijnet.org