The Phnom Penh Post, a newspaper founded in 1992 as Cambodia sought to re-establish stability and democracy after decades of war and unrest, will stop publishing in print this month, the latest blow to the country’s dwindling independent media.
The Post was founded as an English-language biweekly in 1992. It later added a Khmer-language edition, and in 2008 began publishing daily.
It wrote on social media that it would stop publishing both English and Khmer editions by March 29, citing a decline in advertising revenue due to a pandemic-related economic downturn, which added to financial difficulties caused by the spread of social media and other new technology.
Although not mentioned in the announcement, Ly Tayseng, The Post’s current CEO and publisher, confirmed in a text message to AP that it will continue publishing online.
The government of then-Prime Minister Hun Sen cracked down heavily on independent media in 2017.
The Cambodia Daily, a competitor of The Post, was forced to close when it was presented with a huge tax bill which it felt was for political reasons.
The Post came under similar political pressure as it also lagged in advertising revenue, and in 2018 was sold by its Australian publisher to a Malaysian investor who was widely seen as acting as a proxy for the interests of the ruling Cambodia People’s Party.
Several senior staff resigned and it ceased most of the sort of aggressive independent reporting that had once been its hallmark.
The Post was founded on a shoestring by Americans Michael Hayes and Kathleen O’Keefe as Cambodia with UN help, sought to recover from the devastation wrought by the brutal rule of the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s.
The Khmer Rouge still posed a military threat into the late 1990s, and much of the early coverage focused on that conflict.
Its journalism flourished and was also heavily staffed by young Westerners. — AP
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