Cambodian media leaders meet to improve cross-border conflict reporting

Pen Samitthy, president of the Club of Cambodian Journalists.

Sunday, 27 November 2011
Posted by Serath

KEP, Nov 27 (Cambodia Herald): Cambodian media leaders agreed Saturday to improve cross-border conflict reporting and ensure that the media play a better role in peace building between Cambodia and its neighboring countries.

According to a joint statement by more than 30 senior journalists from the print, broadcast and online media who attended a two-day annual forum in Kep, "editors-in-chief and editors should improve the quality of media reports.

"Reports should contribute to promoting peace rather than igniting or exacerbating conflicts," the statement said.

“Editors-in-chief and editors shall also avoid any reports which provoke racial hatred or religious conflicts,” it added.

The Cambodian journalists appealed to editors-in-chief and editors in neighboring countries to take the same position.

They also expressed a wish to meet with their counterparts from other countries in the region, especially Southeast Asia, in bilateral or multilateral forums of editors to promote mutual understanding and ease tensions during conflicts.

The journalists acknowledged irregularities in media reporting during recent military clashes between Cambodia and Thailand, which caused deaths and damage to both countries.

Pen Samitthy, president of the Club of Cambodian Journalists, which organized the forum with the support from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, said there were "some problems" in reports about the conflict between Cambodia and Thailand since 2008.

“Editors-in-chief and editors therefore have to meet to improve the quality of media reports,” he said.