Media
Einzeltitel
Why should I read this chapter? ... because media are a critical part of every democracy!
Ms. Seoung Sophat's vision for Cambodia's media sector in 2040:
- Cambodia’s political system will have gradually evolved into one with more democratic and pluralistic institutions (Levitsky, S., & Way, L. A., 2010).
- There will be comprehensive legal and institutional framework in place to guarantee the fundamental functions of a free press and news media sector.
- Democratic countries continue to have a major influence on Cambodia’s development direction. In the country’s media sector, in particular, Western-owned, funded, or initiated independent media have remained hugely popular despite the rise of Chinese influence and local competitors.
- Strong education investment and reform with a focus on critical thinking skills and digital media literacy.11
- A national embrace of emerging technologies and the continued strong adaptation of Cambodian news producers and consumers to digital transformation of news and media.
Short story:
What is an informed society? And how does it affect ordinary Cambodians? This is best illustrated by a day in the life of a student in 2040. Virak is a third-year architecture student in Battambang city. It is Friday morning after a busy final exam day yesterday and Virak wakes up to finally catch up on the week’s news via podcast which he voice-command to his room’s smart speaker. Virak follows both local and national news from his favorite and most trusted outlets, a local one in Battambang and a national one based out of Phnom Penh. Though an architecture student, Virak is also an avid news consumer and loves following political, economic, and social issues. He learned early this morning that there is a planned protest by students from his university in front of the city hall against authorities’ plan to allow developers to build a restaurant and stores inside the main park on the Sanker river. The students believe the building is unnecessary and will take up already limited space from the public park. Virak plans to stop by the protest site on his way to the university. After the protest, Virak decides to take the ride-hailing app instead of the bus to save time. During the shared ride, the app also updated him on the national news of the day, a common feature of apps that partner with news outlets. Turns out the news was relevant to Virak. It was about disagreements between Thailand and Cambodia on allowing long-time Cambodian workers of any skill level in Thailand access to Thai or dual citizenships. Virak’s sister is a nurse and has been living and working in Bangkok for ten years. She has a family there and hopes to at least get permanent residency card. In fact, Virak plans to visit her for the weekend so he now will prepare additional documents in case Thai immigration asks about his sister. While buying his last-minute flight to Bangkok during class break, Virak learned some shocking news from his national news outlet’s Facebook page that a five-storey three-year-old condo building in Phnom Penh has collapsed. As a future architect, he is angry that this had happened. Given that next week will be school break, Virak decided that after Thailand, he and two of his friends will travel to Phnom Penh next week to visit their friends and learn more about the building situation and how the public will demand authorities to find those to hold accountable. After school, Virak was still following the news about casualty numbers from his smart glasses while taking the bus to a little end-of-semester friend gathering. While packing for Thailand later that evening, Virak was again getting the latest updates via podcasts about both the latest situation in Bangkok and Phnom Penh. He plans to bring his smartphone with an e-SIM card to Bangkok. These phones are not as popular anymore but are easier to use as devices during travels because they have Internet roaming, making it easy for him to still get easy news access while in Bangkok tomorrow.
