A Change of Guard

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Wednesday 1 April 2015

IJF says Pen Samitthy's death is 'tragic loss' for Cambodia [He died suddenly in hospital, so did the doctors kill him by order of some jealous rivals?]

Give our kids a better deal 
Pen Samitthy


PHNOM PENH (The Cambodia Herald) -- The Independent Journalism Foundation (IJF) has paid tribute to Pen Samitthy, the editor in chief of leading Cambodian daily Rasmei Kampuchea who died Monday at the age of 55. 

In a statement Tuesday, Peter Starr, the local representative of the New York-based foundation, said Samitthy's death was a "tragic loss" for the Cambodian people.

"Samitthy not only brought greater independence and credibility to the Cambodian press as editor in chief of Rasmei Kampuchea, he also pioneered journalism training as founding president of the Club of Cambodian Journalists (CCJ).

"IJF is deeply honoured to have worked with him on many occasions over the past 15 years, especially in helping to improve local reporting of environmental and health issues, notably HIV/AIDS and diabetes," he said. 

"His vision for the online news service Cambodia Express News (CEN), which he established along with its sister publication The Cambodia Herald, was unprecedented at the time and brought greater depth and balance to the local media."

Starr, who has been editorial advisor to both publications since 2011, said one of Samitthy's greatest legacies was that Rasmei Kampuchea and the two online news services were the sole Cambodian members of Asia News Network (ANN), an umbrella group of regional newspapers based in Bangkok.

"Through ANN, Samitthy helped to expose leading Asian newspapers to a unique blend of coverage of Cambodian affairs by some extremely talented Cambodian journalists. His death is therefore not only a great loss to Cambodia but also to journalism across the Asian region," he said.

IJF established a presence in Phnom Penh in 2000 and has since trained hundreds of journalists from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, with a focus on business, health and environmental reporting. It has published numerous guidebooks for Cambodian journalists in partnership with CCJ and the Ministry of Information as well as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

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