Cambodian Broadcast Management Challenges and Appropriate Solutions

Sothearith Im, Ohio University
imthegreat@gmail.com

This paper has been published at http://www.kohsantepheapdaily.com.kh/society/solution28_04.htm

CAMBODIA is a country that has been a laboratory for ideologies and a variety of political structures. It has been through feudalism, absolute monarchy, colonialism, populism, republicanism, Leninist, Marxist and Maoist socialism, and constitutional monarchy. Cambodia’s modern history has also been scarred by almost 30 years of civil war, which led not only to the hindrance of its development, but also to the destruction of all areas of its society, including the media.

Like other emerging democratic countries, Cambodia’s political pluralism is a relatively recent development and the notion of the media as society’s watchdog is not well understood by neither the government nor many media practitioners themselves.

In general, the free exchange of ideas and information is a wise policy for a democratic government to uphold. Ordinary citizens can make good decisions about their nation if they are well informed, and are able to share their thoughts with others, including their leaders. These could be done through the media. Ordinary citizens’ ability to understand and respond to events and issues, however, can be no greater than the ability of media practitioners to identify, comprehend and explain those events and issues. The need, therefore, is for the media to be reliable and ethical in gathering and disseminating the information citizens need to understand their world.

There was a time when the media in Cambodia were such, and were highly respected and trusted by the public. When I was young, my grandfather had told me to try to study hard in order to become a journalist. He saw how Cambodians honored journalists, who were considered highly professional and ethical. This was all before 1975, when Cambodia’s short but harrowing descent to hell began.

Between 1975 and 1978, Cambodia came under the control of the ruthless Khmer Rouge, which dismantled all known social structures in the country and replaced it with its own totalitarian system. During its reign, there was a paucity of publications of all kinds, and the media came under state control.

After the Khmer Rouge government was toppled, many mass media were revived, starting with the SPK (Cambodian Press) and Kampuchea newspaper. Then came the establishment of radio stations, after which came the TVK (Television Kampuchea). All these, however, were still controlled by the state.

A major turning point for Cambodia and the media came in 1992, when the United Nations peacekeeping force arrived to help prepare the country for its first democratic elections in decades. After the UN forces arrived, freedom expression exploded along with multi-party politics. Numerous local and international private media companies – print and broadcast -- were established. Even though their publications and broadcasts frequently spread inaccurate news, rumors, and sometimes even committed slander, Cambodians were still kept better informed than ever in the previous two regimes about what was happening across the country.

In time, the publications and the radio and TV stations began to reveal scandals about the former government and identifying corrupt individuals. In the past, corrupt government officials had not been afraid of anyone, not even the courts, which were perceived to be corrupt as well. But this time around, corrupt officials became fearful of the media.

The fear of any of their wrongdoings being exposed by the media, however, resulted not in reforms among politicians, but in attempts to corrupt journalists. Some political parties also went to the extent of trying to set up media companies of their own. Soon, articles were being written and published largely because money was being exchanged between journalists and politicians. Many of the local news being broadcast by the radio and TV stations or published by the newspapers also became blatantly politicized, with no palpable effort at all to present information in an unbiased and impartial way. At the same time, the increasing competition between media companies led to frequent exchanges of insults in print. Whatever points the media gained among the public in the early 1990s were thus lost.

It is noted that after the 1993 general election, a new democratic government was formed, and radio and television stations were established one after another, most of which were owned by private companies or political parties. The mushrooming of broadcast media, especially television, favors Cambodian people, since it provides the public not only news, but also entertainment. As a result, movie industry was no longer functioning and movie theaters across the countries were shut down. According to the annual report (2003) by Cambodian Ministry of Information, nowadays in Phnom Penh there are 19 radio stations including affiliate stations of BBC and French channels, 9 television stations including affiliate stations of French and Vietnamese channels, and two cables. These companies extend their broadcast capacity to 20 radio stations, 14 television stations, and 31 cable televisions in the provinces. According to H.E. Khieu Kanharith, Cambodian Secretary of State of Information, radios' coverage covers almost 90%, and televisions' coverage covers about 80% across the country.

Although Cambodian broadcast is remarkably mushrooming and enjoying freedom given by the government, Cambodian broadcast management has not yet reached satisfactory standard due to the fact that it is encountering a lack of professionalism, administration mismanagement, and financial problems, and press law and regulations are not properly enforced. This paper will also discuss and suggest the appropriate solutions to these mentioned problems being faced by Cambodian broadcast management.

Professionalism, which plays a crucial role in leading a business to its success, is badly needed by all Cambodian broadcasting corporations. The majority of people working in the fields of media, especially broadcast managers, who are supposed to give their staff proper training to do their job effectively (Gershon, 2000), do not have a degree in media or other related specialization, although some have completed short training courses. Cambodian broadcasters have made clear their desire for greater opportunities to engage in advanced professional and academic studies. Many of them wish to become recognized experts in the fields they work in. These people learn by doing and observation. Although they are able to keep the broadcast operating, the quality of broadcast programs has not yet met satisfactory standards, and the blatant bias may be caused by the lack of education in professions and lack of critical thinking. The lack of education, professional trainings, or creative thinking leads broadcasters to work unprofessionally and to slow dawn the real development of the broadcast professionalism. The hindrance of real development may be due to the fact that broadcasters are unable to keep themselves posted on what is going on in the outside world and unable to adopt the change of its external environment. Keeping updated with the external environment changes is important for all media practitioners, especially for decision makers (Napoli, 2003).

In addition, inadequate qualified staff is one of the main factors causing problem to administration, since responsibility and duty of personnel are not clearly delegated. Some personnel have too many things to do whereas others do not. The overlapping of the personnel’s responsibility leads to the hindrance of good program production and other working process. As saying reads, “too many cooks spoil broth.” At the same time, some unskilled and unproductive staff members have still been employed though they do not contribute as much as expected to the station.

Authoritarian leadership style used in Cambodian broadcast corporations is seen to be impractical for improvement of broadcast field. Cambodia was ruled by socialist regimes for decades; thus its broadcast was totally under strict control of the government. The centralization and bureaucracy have still been strictly used in almost all broadcast stations, since a majority of television directors and managers were former media practitioners in the socialist regimes and get used to the socialist working system. Therefore, their experience has set their mind to the working system and leads to a cognition inertia. As the result of this leadership style, Cambodian broadcasters are seen to be uncreative. According to Covington (1999), creative not only can sustain the existing media, but also engenders the existing media to expand in profitability and audience size. Since the Cambodian broadcasters are uncreative, some broadcast programs do not meet the public satisfaction because of poor quality of the programs, and the program content is adopted from those of other countries, which sometimes do not work in Cambodian society.

Shortage of finance hinders the development of every Cambodian broadcast station. Financial problems have been a major problem to all Cambodian broadcast stations. It is like chicken and egg theory. Because of a shortage of money, broadcast stations are unable to employ skilled professionals. As a result the stations produce poor quality programs, which neither attract audience nor advertisers, who are the financial sources of all the broadcast stations. For instance, most Cambodian radio stations broadcast news published in daily newspapers instead of producing the program themselves. Moreover, low paid media practitioners may accept bribe. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said, “About 25 percent of Cambodian media practitioners are working like kidnappers by demanding money from government officials, otherwise they would report something bad about them.” (Puy, 2000). In addition, Equipment such as transmitters and other digital facilities and equipment are badly needed to catch up with the advancement of information technology. Most broadcast stations in Cambodia are still using analogue equipment and facilities, which leads to low quality of images shown on screens.

Media law, which is believed to help regulates media operation, is not only improperly enforced, but is also thought to be a means used by the government to intimidate media practitioners and censor the media. Since media law was enacted in 1994, the law has been still controversial. Since the laws were passed, several media practitioners have been jailed or threatened (Country Profile: Communications, 2001). Furthermore, absence of copyright law also negatively affects production, especial programming of broadcast station. Copyright law is still being processed and will be passed soon. Without copyright law, program producers may not be motivated to produce good programs. So far broadcast stations have copied programs from one another. For instance, karaoke programs broadcasted live on radio and television, which allow audience to call in and sing, have been adopted from one another.

Solving the above problems being faced by Cambodian broadcast stations nowadays is a long-term proposition. One step forward is by increasing awareness of media’s importance. Another is increasing professionalism among media practitioners. But many Cambodian broadcasters today are sorely lacking even in skills, which only tend to result in haphazard reporting and programming. Media law needs to be modified, and copyright law should be passed soon and properly implemented.

Fortunately, the country’s leaders have not resorted to a crackdown to keep erring media companies in check. Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen said at the official opening ceremony of the Department of Media and Communication, Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP), “The best way to change the image of media is to educate media practitioners, not to shut down media agencies.”

As a response to the prime minister’s challenge, the department of media and communication started to offer the first bachelor’s program in media management in 2001. The department has also established partnerships with schools abroad in its efforts to upgrade media education. These are but small steps, to be sure, but they are nevertheless crucial in making the media in Cambodia worthy once more of the public’s trust and developing the media professionalism. Offering bachelor of media management contribute to development of media professionalism in a long run, and other short training courses offered in the country for local media practitioners contributes to the development of media professionalism in a short run. In the transitional period, experienced and skilled expatriate professionals should be hired to work as counterparts with local broadcasters so that they can learn from the expatriate experts.

Leadership styles of current Cambodian broadcast need to be changed and its administration management need to be reformed. As above mentioned, authoritarian leadership style is no longer applicable, since it hinders its personnel’s creativity and demotivates employees. Employees should be given freedom of doing things, and responsibility for business success so that they are motivated, committed, responsible, and have a sense of ownership. Human relations perspective style of leadership, which creates healthy working environment (Gershon, 2001) should be applied in Cambodian broadcast corporations to replace the authoritarian style.

Programming plays a crucial role in attracting audience as well as advertisers. Of all the factors determining the financial success of a broadcast station, programming plays the most crucial roles in bringing listeners and viewers to the station. (Pringle, Starr, & McCavitt, 1999). The larger the audience, the more attention of advertisers can be attracted. To produce a good quality program, programmers and employees have to be creative. According to Covington (1999), creativity significantly contributes to media programming, media promotion and sales. The original program is successfully produced based on the creative concepts and creativity of the involved individuals. The successful programming usually attracts its audience; it links its content with the public interest.

In addition, broadcast coverage is also crucial in contributing to succeeding in attracting audience. The large broadcast coverage, the more audience the broadcast program can reach. According to H.E. Khieu Kanhrith, Cambodian Secretary of State of Information, radios' coverage covers almost 90%, and televisions' coverage covers about 80% across the country. Thus, broadcast coverage need to be expanded so that every Cambodian is able to access the broadcast programs.

Cambodian Communication Commission and an independent governing broadcast body should be officially established with the framework of professionalism to help regulates media, especially electronic media. This commission will help properly enforce media laws and ethics, and propose to amend any articles of media laws which are not appropriate. As above mentioned, the existing media laws have been used as means to intimidate media practitioners, and the laws do not cover all aspects of media. An independent governing body of electronic media, Television Association of Cambodia was established, but it does not seem to actively work. Such a Television Association of Cambodia can play important role in protecting media practitioners from being intimidated as well as sharing professional experience with one another.

To solve the problem successfully a comprehensive research should be done on Cambodian broadcast management challenges and appropriate solutions. It is clear that there are still many big holes in Cambodian broadcast management to be filled. Thus, there will be many things to be done such as developing professionalism by educating or training media practitioners, reforming administration management and leadership styles, adopting copyright laws, and establish Cambodian Communications Commission, etc. Fulfilling this task is a long proposition. Great efforts have to be made by all the involved, radio and television stations, government and educational institutions.

What is more, to solve these problems successfully, the natures of the problems and the needs of the broadcast stations have to be accurately identified. Therefore, a comprehensive research should be conducted. Conducting the comprehensive research on the broadcast management in Cambodia is time consuming and needs great efforts and resources, since sources of materials on Cambodian broadcast management are not at all available. However, the following materials may be helpful and partly contribute to the future research on appropriate solutions to the problems being faced by Cambodia broadcast management these days.

References

Country profile: communication. (2001). Retrieved Nov. 10, 2003, from http://seamedia.org/cambodia.php.

Covington, W. G. (1999). Creativity in TV & cable managing & producing. Lanham: University Press of America.

Gershon, R. A. (2001). Telecommunications management: industry structures and planning strategies. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

Napoli, P. M. (2003). Environmental cognitions in a dual-product marketplace: a participant-observation perspective on the U.S. broadcast television industry. The International Journal on Media Management, 6 (2), 100-107.

Pringle, P.K., Starr, M. F., & McCavitt, W.E. (1999). Electronic media management (4th
ed.). Boston: Focal Press.

Puy, K. (2000). Article: Situation of Cambodia Press in 2000. Retrieved Nov. 10, 2003,
from http://seamedia.org/cambodia.php.