Cambodian bloggers dream of beating the propoganda

Just 10 per cent of Cambodians have access to the internet, but a small number of Cambodians are taking up the craft of blogging.Cambodian bloggers, or 'Cloggers' as they refer to themselves, are starting to use cyberspace to discuss music, romance, daily life and, just occasionally, politics.While the traditional news media has no official censorship and is often described as one of the freest in the region, a recent study concluded Cambodia's "media is closely controlled by politics, money and fear".A survey of 150 journalists last year found 65 per cent were afraid of being physically attacked, and 62 per cent feared legal action.Pin Samithy, President of the Club Of Cambodian Journalists, told Radio Australia's Connect Asia program, while violence against journalists has diminished in recent years, the threat of criminal and civil prosecutions has increased."We are very concerned about this and I think after the election the Cambodian journalists will meet each other and resolve this problem," he said.We don't want any journalist to be jailed because of their job."Mr Samithy is also editor-in-chief of Rasmei Kampuchea, the largest newspaper in Cambodia.He freely admits that his newspaper, like most in the country, is seen to have a bias towards Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party - just as some of his competitors favour the various Opposition parties.He says his, and other papers, are striving to introduce more balance.That is not the view of the bloggers, however.Chak Sopheap is one of Cambodia's very few bloggers. The 23-year-old says the media in Cambodia is increasing and is more open, but there are still limitations."If you look at TV nowadays there's restrictions and it's not independent at all," she said."The TV's role is to promote government and mainly the ruling party."Bloggers are a long way from being able to challenge that official propoganda with only 1,000 or so active in the country and very few of those prepared to tackle politics.After a blog entry criticising the ruling Cambodian People's Party, Miss Sopheap was sent a message telling her she should run otherwise she would be killed.She says she doesn't expect blogs to have much influence on the election later this month but hopes that by the 2013 election Cambodia will have too many bloggers for any one political party to control their message."I notice that there's an increasing number because one of my network, they promote the blog creation, they go to schools, universities and other organisation to teach people how to blog and the benefits of blogging," Miss Sopheap said.