The Ministry of Information has suspended a little-known local Khmer language newspaper “Phnom Penh,” following a complaint from the CPP’s Phnom Penh permanent committee over the newspaper’s use of a logo the municipality claims belongs to it.
The suspension was dubbed a threat to press freedom by the Cambodian Association for Protection of Journalists in a statement issued Friday, which called for the lifting of the suspension.
Khieu Kanharith, Information Ministry secretary of state, said Friday a letter suspending the publication was issued Thursday after negotiations with the newspaper’s editor to change a front page logo depicting Wat Phnom broke down.
Phnom Penh Municipality claims the newspaper’s logo is their official municipal symbol and must be removed, Khieu Kanharith said, adding that the case will be settled in court and the paper will remain suspended until the court’s decision.
“I proposed a solution to change [the newspaper’s] logo but the editor refused. So there were two options: settle with the Phnom Penh branch of the CPP or court,” Khieu Kanharith said.
Phnom Penh Governor Chea Sophara confirmed Friday the controversy over the use of the logo followed a string of recent articles in the newspaper claiming corruption at City Hall.
Denying allegations of graft, Chea Sophara said the articles appeared in the newspaper after he refused an extortion bid by the newspaper’s editor. The issue now is the unlawful use of the municipality’s logo by the newspaper, he added.
“The newspaper can criticize me or not….That is not the issue. The important issue is they should not be using the municipality logo,” Chea Sophara said.
Editor of “Phnom Penh,” Soun Sovanarith said Friday he would pursue the case in court and reiterated he had “enough evidence” to prove wrongdoing in the municipality.
However Soun Sovanarith also confirmed he made a request for $5,000 to Chea Sophara shortly before publication of four newspaper articles on corruption.
The request for cash was not extortion, but a fee for removal of the disputed logo, Soun Sovanarith said, adding that sales of the weekly newspaper had increased 20 percent—to around 1,000 copies—since the stories were published.
Sam Rithy Duong Hak, first vice president of CAPJ, said Friday the Association is requesting that the Ministry of Information allow the newspaper to publish until the court has made its decision on ownership of the logo.
