More than 1,000 Media Outlets Operating in Cambodia

0
1712

On the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Department of Media and Communication (DMC) at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, it was revealed that currently more than one thousand media outlets are believed to be operating in Cambodia.

Department of Media and Communication (DMC)

The Phnom Penh Post reported that Cambodian officials confirmed the number of media working on traditional or legacy formats as well as digital media was as high as one thousand!

Ministry of Information spokesman Meas Sophorn said that it also meant journalism ethics are in the spotlight, especially in a time of social media and fake news. “If you are an independent journalist, you have to cover all aspects of the story and be open to publishing information from any source if it is the truth. Journalists must gather information from all the available sources for their stories, no matter what kind of information that happens to be.”

In the same week of September 20th 2021, Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith said he supported the “establishment of a news association led by a group of young journalists who are committed to strengthening journalism” reported the Khmer Times. He made the comments with regards to the Cambodia Youth Journalist Forum (CYJF) and the registration of the association.

In September 2021, the newly formed Chinese-language Asia-Pacific Times also invited the Minister to their offices. The AP Times is a “media aggregation platform available as online, on an app, social media and in printed media.” AP Times aims to “become a first-class Chinese-language media organisation in Cambodia and Southeast Asia.”

This is the sixth mainstream Chinese media organisation to launch in the Kingdom.

You can catch up on our recent article on Marketing in the Kingdom, with the impacts of COVID and what platforms are popular.

What the increasing variety of media represents for businesses, are more outlets to reach a growing multicultural audience and customers. Currently, we know of Cambodian, English, French, Chinese, and Japanese media in various forms operating in the country, some are general, some are specialised forms of media.

But more than a thousand media outlets is a lot, especially for the size of the country and there is a lot of repetitive “news” across these platforms.

Many businesses engage with PR firms to distribute news across several outlets simultaneously, while many media outlets also do not specify published content is paid for, or provided.

In addition, businesses operating in Cambodia need to consider their target audience and the best medium to engage with them, whether it is in print, digital, written content, videos, or TV and radio stations which are still popular.

In 2021 “Television remains the most popular type of media in Cambodia, reaching 96 per cent of the Cambodian audience” according to Media Ownership Monitor Cambodia.

You can read more in our guide on Marketing & Advertising in Cambodia: Media, Market research, Digital, Agencies

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here