“Thailand and Cambodia fare worse and journalists at the current summit in Phnom Penh stand more of a chance of being ticked off for failing to wear a suit and tie in the tropical heat than they have of finding an original story.”
The Diplomat - July 12, 2012
Many years ago, two colleagues were wrongfully jailed in Laos
for murder and as president of the Overseas Press Club of Cambodia (OPCC), I
did my best to lobby for their release, a job that was made all the more easier
by the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) which was holding its
annual summits in Cambodia at the time.
My part in obtaining their release was very small. Others
like the photographer Dan White did much more. But the incident and the ability
of journalists to make themselves heard and demand answers to awkward questions
highlighted the type of relationship that existed between the media and the
leaders of the day.
A decade ago it was much easier to rub shoulders with
members of government. Presidents, foreign ministers and genuinely senior
people would call hastily arranged press conferences to discuss major issues
where journalists had a voice and it was never too difficult to grab a quick
and private word.
Seasoned journalists say such access is still available at
summits in Indonesia and Vietnam despite the all-pervading Communist culture of
politicians in Hanoi. But Thailand and Cambodia fare worse and journalists at
the current summit in Phnom Penh stand more of a chance of being ticked off for
failing to wear a suit and tie in the tropical heat than they have of finding
an original story.
This is mainly because conference delegates are kept in one
brand-spanking-new building called the Peace Palace, and office to the Prime
Minister, Hun Sen. Journalists are kept several hundred meters away in the
Council of Ministers’ building where they are fed a daily diet of meaningless
press releases and invited to briefings by minders who have even less to say.
After days of negotiations, the latest ASEAN summit of
foreign ministers has decided to speed up efforts to become a fully integrated
economic community by 2015, held a meeting of Mekong River countries where the
highly controversial Xayaburi dam in Laos was not even discussed and decided on
“key elements” for a code of conduct (COC) in the South China Sea.
That code is supposed to head-off any trouble with China in
the disputed waters before it gets out of hand. But China’s chief ally in the
10-member ASEAN bloc, Cambodia, decided it would not be prudent to list or
discuss what those elements -- in the decade old bid to complete the COC --
were.
This is hardly the stuff of international journalism, and
one is left with the impression that organizers of this year’s ASEAN Regional
Forum would like reporters to behave as well-dressed props, a backdrop to be
seen and not heard while politicians dripping in self-importance preach to
their choirs and field the well-rehearsed questions from a friendly hand hidden
among the press corp.
Covering these summits is expensive business. The number of
journalists coming to these events is dwindling, their news organizations no
longer spend up the way they used to, with abandon and a five-star expense
account.
And why should they when their hosts treat them like
unwanted guests?
Image credit: Gunawan Kartapranata
1 comment:
This territorial and the surounding of the Preah Vihear Temple belong to the Khmer people the country of Cambodia. We Khmer so called the Cambodian authority should not move our soldiers before all things have to be cleared from the International Court, that Thai authorities or any Thai representings have no right to be posted near the Prasat of Preah Vihear, the World of Khmer Heritage.
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