Long way to go for Cambodian Journalists to use multimedia techniques

Story rewritten for radio
While most of the global reporters are tending to use multimedia techniques, their Cambodian counterparts are still staying far behind. After ending some three decades of civil conflicts, including the Khmer Rouge “killing fields”, the least developed nation in Southeast Asia has strived hard to develop its country.

Though it is integrating itself into the regional and global bodies such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the World Trade Organisation, most of the Cambodian journalists, especially those who are working with the local media companies, are not familiar with technology and do not know how to use “Multimedia Techniques”.

Pen Samitthy, Editor-in-Chief of Rasmei Kampouchea which is one of the country’s leading newspapers, said English language is the main challenge for Cambodian reporters to act multi-functions.

Sound clips:
“We want our journalists to have multi-works but we cannot do what we want. You know nearly all my reporters cannot understand English, so they cannot use computer. It sounds a bit funny to say this but this is the truth. Some of them can use computer but they type very slowly. So they like hand writing rather than typing in computer. For my stingers in the provinces, they send their articles to the main office by taxi. That’s why we hire a few computer typists to rewrite their articles.”

Samitthy said not only his employees but many other Cambodian journalists are not different from his reporters.

Yim Sphoan, a TV and radio news producer also agrees with Samitthy saying that his companies do not care much with news stories but much on entertainments.

Sound clip:
“My station has both TV and radio sections and we have different reporters doing different jobs. We rarely send a cameraman to take both footage and text. Cameramen do not know how to write news while reporters cannot get good footages. However, the TV section can share news stories to radio section but radio cannot give video images to the TV partner. We need time to become our media people to do multi-functions. The main thing is English language and it is not so easy for our present working journalists to learn. I think multi-functions can be done until the station upgrades its equipments and provides its employees training.”

Many local journalists also echo what their employers raised saying that doing multi functions is not getting product quality but just quantity.