New monthly arts and culture magazine to be joined by weekly paper in coming months
French print media is finally regaining traction in Cambodia, with the Francophone community getting a new monthly arts magazine and a weekly news magazine scheduled to launch in the next two to three months.
The 20-page Le Toque, which focuses on arts and culture, was published for the second time this month and is the first news-focused publication in French since the Cambodge Soir newspaper shut down in 2010.
“There was no French publication at the time I started, so it’s good for the [French-speaking] community here, and although it’s mostly about culture, it’s still important,” said Emmanuel Pezard, Le Toque’s publisher and editor.
He said he’s aware that at $2.50 per issue, his magazine is one of the most expensive publications in Cambodia, but his aim is to cater to French expats and French-speaking Cambodians alike.
The magazine has distribution deals for newsstands as well as the Monument Books chain, and is available for reading at the French Institute.
After the first issue sold about 250 out of 1,000 copies, the publication is already gaining momentum, said Mr. Pezard.
“Of course, you can never please everybody, but the readers’ reactions were mostly positive, and this month, we sold 150 [as of last week], so it’s already a big rise,” he said.
The 34-year-old part-time publisher, writer and drummer said the sales spike came as a surprise, but it will take a while for Le Toque to gain recognition and become financially sustainable.
“Most people are very happy with it [Le Toque] and they like that they can finally read a magazine in French language again,” said Mr. Pezard.
According to the French Embassy, there are 3,500 registered native French-speaking expats in Cambodia, as well as about 140,000 Cambodians studying the Romance language, adding up to a sizable potential market that is now only served by L’Echo du Cambodge, a free monthly magazine, which contains an eclectic mix of stories, TV program listings and advertisements.
It is this lack of publications within the Francophone community that Jerome Jaymond and others aim to fill with a weekly paper, tentatively titled Le Mag and due to be published in March or April.
“At the moment, we are still looking for advertisement to make it sustainable and at least to be able to launch it,” said Mr. Jaymond. “We would like to offer it for free because distribution and collection of money would be more expensive than what we can gain by charging, let’s say, 2,000 riel [about $0.50] or $1.”
Pierre-Yves Clais, a French travel writer and long-time residnet of Cambodia who runs the Terres Rouge Lodge in Ratanakkiri province, said a free, large-circulation paper supported by advertising is an interesting business model, but that money will be the biggest issue.
“In my opinion, it’s not very likely that it will be launched, I am afraid. There are about 5,000 French people in Cambodia and they might be interested in reading it, but the advertisement market is not that big, so I don’t think it will work out,” he said, adding that a lot of people also read Le Petit Journal, a French news website that also attempts to cover Cambodia. “There is just no market for a French weekly.”
But Mr. Jaymond is convinced there is a market.
Mr. Jaymond said Pierre Gillette, the former editor-in-chief of the defunct French newspaper Cambodge Soir, and 20 journalists based in Cambodia are ready to start writing for Le Mag.
Cambodge Soir’s former deputy editor, Francois Gerles, said most French expats would be excited to see a new French weekly in Cambodia, as the French community was hit hard by the September 2010 closure of the Soir, which had been a fixture of Cambodian press for 15 years. That paper also faced hurdles and would have never been launched without the help of international organization Francophonie, whose goal is to promote the French language worldwide. However, financing the Soir was never easy, said Mr. Gerles, who left the paper in 2004. “The money was always a problem because the money coming from the Francophonie wasn’t enough to cover all the expenses. So we tried to find other means, but it was always critical. Each year, we didn’t know if we can make it for another year.”
In 2007, the Soir had to be cut back from a daily to a weekly after staff walked off the job following strikes to protest the dismissal of a journalist.
“There was a clash between the newsroom and the board. They wanted to fire a journalist who had written a story connected to a report by [forestry NGO] Global Witness,” said Mr. Gerles.
The paper ceased to be published for two months, until a new team of journalists started to work on a weekly edition—placed under the control of its board of directors.
Three years later, the Soir faced more hurdles as it lost its financial backing.
“At the time, there was a wealthy French businesswoman who provided a lot of money to the paper each month. But then she had financial problems herself,” said Mr. Gerles, and as she stopped donating money, the last edition of the Cambodge Soir was printed on Sept 30, 2010.
“The past experience shows that just selling the paper to the French community is not enough. It’s quite impossible here to have a private French newspaper without any public support coming from France or a private person,” said Mr. Gerles. “You cannot run a newspaper like this.”
Although Le Mag and Le Toque face an uncertain financial future, Mr. Jaymond and Mr. Pezard are trying to put French publications back on track in Cambodia.
“I wish them a lot of luck,” said Mr. Clais, the travel writer. “It’d be great to have French publications again.”
