Regulatory Bodies

National Press Council of Cambodia

The National Press Council of Cambodia (NPCC) was established in 2007 by 11 media associations to promote press freedom and democracy of the media. The council is currently headed by a team of chairman, vice chairman and secretary general (Structure). The current secretary general Ek Visarakhun said in an interview that the council plans to establish a common code of ethics for journalists by the year 2010. The council has also channelized its efforts towards attaining achieving standard of press freedom. Though the council has formed Media Monitoring and Press Network Committees, no specific detail on their action was available, except the interest of the committees to develop a database of media-related information of the country. Though funded by international organizations like UNESCO, the council is not completely free from interference of the government. The press council said that it works in cooperation with the government since it is trying to improve the press freedom of the country, adding that it receives no funding from the government, nor does it have government representatives as members. However, some journalists and local NGOs accused the Press Council of not being too effective so far in promoting press freedom. It was reported that it was unable to cooperate with media associations in campaigning for the release of imprisoned journalists because of the presence of government officials in the board. Director General of Information and Broadcasting H.E. Buth Bovuth said in an interview that the government does not support the concept of an independent Press Council in Cambodia. The practice of registering complaints by citizens in case of unethical news reports has also not been instituted in the council, said local journalist associations.