Anti-Corruption Unit Calls for Newspaper to Alter Its Name

Journalist announced last week his plans to publish the weekly Anti-Corruption Newspaper

The Information Ministry has refused to allow a start-up newspaper to call itself the “Anti-Cor­ruption Newspaper” after the Anti­-Corrup­tion Unit (ACU) complained on Fri­day that the name would sow confusion among the public.

Ros Sokhet, a freelance journalist who was convicted of disinformation in 2009 and imprisoned for one year, announced last week that he planned to publish a weekly newspaper targeting government corruption.

But Om Yentieng, chairman of the ACU, appealed to the In­formation Ministry on Friday to block Mr. Sokhet’s bid to use the name because it could lead people to believe that the newspaper was published by his unit.

“I would like to ask His Ex­cellency Minister [of Informa­tion Khieu Kanharith] to intervene with Ros Sokhet to name his news­paper differently in order to avoid confusion and disadvantages that will give a lot of difficulties in management,” Mr. Yen­tieng wrote in a letter posted on the ACU’s website.

“In our Khmer language there are a lot of names that Mr. Ros Sokhet can use for his newspaper in order to express his conscience without causing confusion.”

Nhem Noy, director of the me­dia center department at the In­for­ma­tion Ministry, said the ministry had accepted the ACU’s com­plaint and told Mr. Sokhet that he must choose another name be­fore he will be granted a license.

“The key thing is for the newspaper to prove its strength based on how strong and good the articles are, not on what its name is,” Mr. Noy said.

Mr. Sokhet said he regretted the decision.

“I have no intention of changing the name,” he said, adding that he would consult with his staff about what steps they would take next.