On a whiteboard in TVK headquarters, a list of story ideas about Sunday’s elections has swelled and dwindled throughout the past month.
Illiterate voters, ailing farmers, the trials of young, small parties—reporters have tackled them all with a critical eye rarely seen at the state-run station.
“After so many years of being able but not allowed, they’re finally getting a chance to do it,” said Cedric Jancloes, a media expert who has been working with TVK’s election news team.
A joint project between the UN Development Program and the Ministry of Information has allowed news to put a wedge between TVK reporters and the government that runs it. Since it started June 22, it has shown Prime Minister Hun Sen brushing off questions about corruption, politicians criticizing the station as pro-CPP and controversial interviews with Vietnamese immigrants.
“You can say this is a historic program,” said Ouy Bounmy, a deputy director who has worked for TVK since its inception 20 years ago as the Committee for Radio and Television. “You can see it’s not only CPP people here…. This is our professional work. What you think about the party, you put aside.”
Its beginning was dubious. Delayed shipments of equipment pushed the program’s start-date back one week. Microphones ordered for TVK arrived only last Thursday. Then politicians criticized the broadcasts. After one of the first broadcasts featuring Sam Rainsy, the station received a call from a midlevel CPP official.
“I explained to them that it was OK. They have the right to speak,” Oum Bounmy said.
After about two weeks, Sam Rainsy said he would “withdraw” from the coverage because it was biased. TVK continued its coverage of the opposition.
“It is the first time they hear the criticism—Funcinpec, the CPP or Sam Rainsy. Its very new for them,” Oum Bounmy said.
Now the major complaint is that the program is ending abruptly. In past elections, the weeks following voting day have been as crucial as the campaigning.
Him Suong, deputy general director at TVK, said the station appealed to the UNDP to continue the program. About half of the roughly $73,000 poured into the news team was invested in equipment.
As late as this week, a possibility existed that the program could continue. But Daphne Skillen, the UNDP adviser to the program, said Election Day is a natural break. “Our main goal was to provide balanced news during the campaign period. That was our objective,” she said. “Obviously the news goes on, but it’s slightly different news. It’s not campaign news.”
Whatever happens after the polls, TVK journalists say they are committed to maintaining high standards. Most of the problems they’ve had in the past were resolved with the new equipment, said Yos Sopheap, a reporter at TVK since 1994.
“Sometimes we wanted to do a story, and we felt that it was very good, but the government does not have the money for us to do it,” he said.
“Now people can judge whether TVK is CPP television or public television,” he said.
