Friday marked the deadline for the submission of feedback on the draft Charter for Professional Journalism to the Ministry of Information, 10 days after a consultation with journalists and media groups.
Despite concerns about the short timeframe, journalist associations duly submitted their suggestions and requests for adjustments to draft articles which affected press freedom.
On July 24, the ministry held a consultation with approximately 200 media associations and journalists to gather feedback on the draft charter. The draft was only distributed to participants on the morning of the consultation.
Following that, a 10-day period was set to gather input till August 2.
While organizations like the Cambodian Journalists Alliance Association (CamboJA) and UNESCO did not provide immediate feedback on the consultation day, but asked for additional time to review the draft. Other organizations, such as the Club of Cambodian Journalists, made recommendations while supporting the draft.
CamboJA executive director Nop Vy said the time given to gather the input was too short, which was only about a week since the consultation. Nevertheless, CamboJA managed to collect comments from its members, who are journalists, and submit them to the ministry on August 2.
“For us, it is too short. We think that the ministry should give more time which is necessary to ensure that all journalists […] read, understand, and provide feedback to the Ministry of Information to review the charter,” Vy said.
He said most of the comments suggested that the scope of the charter for professional journalism was too broad and not focused on the work of journalists, which he said the charter should have.
Some of the content was not specific and more enshrined in legal principles or other rules. For instance, Article 5 states that freedom of expression and freedom of press “do not grant immunity for acts that depart from the content of these freedoms”.
“We suggest deleting some of the phrases in this article [as] we are worried that it will have an impact. It sounds more like a threat than advice,” he added.
Additionally, Article 21 states that “practitioners in the field of media and audio-visual must maintain an independent position, be unbiased and honest, prioritize people and society’s interest, and not be in a relationship, have an interest or be under the influence of sources, donors or project managers relating to the topic and performance.”
With regards to this article, CamboJA requested the ministry to make an adjustment, especially in relation to the restrictions on receiving funds because it would hinder the work of the media.
“We know that the principle of restriction on freedom applies unless the restriction is stated in the law. If there is no law, mentioning the restrictions on any cooperation is a restriction on freedom,” Vy said.
The most important part is Article 28, a main point raised by CamboJA with the ministry with regards to creating an independent group or press council to ensure the effectiveness of journalism and for the ministry not to interfere in the inspection, monitoring and performance of journalists.
Article 28 states that the “Committee for Monitoring, Evaluating and Appreciating the Implementation of the Code of Ethics for Journalists” is responsible for monitoring, evaluating, and commending journalists based on their “actual compliance” with the charter in accordance with the mechanisms.
“A press council should play an important role as a high-level council to oversee the work of journalists. This is what we want and [seek] an adjustment of Article 28,” Vy said.
“Article 28 is the most important thing we want to see changed, and we want to see what should be improved rather than the inclusion of a monitoring committee set up by the ministry, which [will] not be independent enough to perform the job.”
However, Vy said if the ministry maintained that it would continue to facilitate the preparation of the draft, he hoped that their input would be accepted and applied in the charter “as much as possible”.
He also hopes that the ministry will provide information and feedback to indicate which requests were accepted.
Responding to CamboJA News via email, UNESCO representatives said their experts in freedom of expression and media development were reviewing the draft and will submit the views early next week.
Sharing key guiding principles and ethical standards to be considered for the draft charter, the UN body said the media code of conduct was a crucial framework for journalists. It guides them to perform their roles professionally and ethically with a focus on truth, accuracy, and transparency.
It should support media independence and editorial freedom, with an independent body responsible for handling complaints.
The process of developing a code of conduct should be by the media sector through an inclusive, participatory and transparent process, following extensive consultations with different media stakeholders.
“The draft versions and any subsequently developed interpretive guidance should be made public for feedback and comments,” UNESCO said.
It emphasized the need for awareness-raising, capacity-building, and an independent complaints system before the charter is fully rolled out.
Ministry spokesperson Tep Asnarith said the process of collecting input from stakeholders was ongoing. After the deadline, the ministry will collect all the input from other stakeholders. He added that the consultation process for input had been ongoing for four months.
“The ministry has received a large amount of input, all of which have been carefully and precisely recorded for the drafting of the charter for professional journalism,” he added.
Asnarith mentioned that journalists, media organizations, and journalist associations “recognized” the necessity and importance of establishing the charter for professional journalism and “expressed support” for the process of drafting a charter to promote professional values in the field of information and audio-visual in Cambodia.
“The participation of all stakeholders is considered a historic event for the media and audiovisual sector via two major seminars which facilitated discussions, exchange of views and requests for a draft charter, as well as input collection to promote the order and values of the journalism profession in Cambodia,” he said.
Minister of Information Neth Pheaktra said the charter was created because the media sector has changed “drastically” from traditional media to modern media, where social media coverage has increased significantly in recent years. This growth has led to an increase in negative issues, including the spread of false information.
More than 3,000 “fake news” articles that were “different from the truth” and related to stability, public order, and other policies spread throughout Cambodia in 2023, confusing people.
(Additional reporting by Tang Porgech and Tep Suokeany)
