Programs & Events
Cambodian Journalists Prepare for Upcoming National Elections
Phnom Penh
December 19-21, 2007
American journalist Joyce Barrett reviewed election reporting techniques and ethics with Cambodian journalists in preparation for Cambodia's 2008 national elections during a workshop entitled "How a Free Media Covers Elections." Twenty-seven Cambodian reporters from television, radio and newspapers attended the 9-hour workshop conducted over three days. Workshops topics included:
- the importance of the media's role in ensuring a free election in a democracy;
- the role the media plays in conveying information from the candidates and parties to the voters, and from the voters to the candidates and political parties;
- the need for fair, accurate and balanced reporting;
- media ethics (full disclosure, how to treat sources, how to handle anonymous sources, how to handle children, and fair reporting); and
- political polling (examined political polls online to see how questions are unbiased and avoid leading answers).
In his remarks at the workshop's closing ceremony, Ambassador Mussomeli told the journalists, "In the upcoming national elections in Cambodia, you can best serve the public by providing information on the candidates' ideas, proposals, and overall qualifications. Your job is to ask questions, tough questions, and report on the answers. Or, report on their lack of answers, or on their unwillingness to be questioned. The most important role is to objectively observe and report on the positions the candidates take in the election and to report fairly on the issues."
Additionally Ms. Barrett presented a guest lecture at the Royal University of Phnom Penh's Department of Media and Communication for third- and fourth-year journalism students. The lecture covered the role of a free press in elections, the role media plays in protecting democracy, media ethics and interviewing techniques. She also met with officials at Cambodia's National Election Commission (NEC), where she learned about the government's plans for the July elections and the NEC's provisions for working with the press. Ms. Barrett stressed the needed for full and free relations with the press.
Joyce Barrett is a former senior editor of Congressional Quarterly and has run journalism education programs around the world, including in Vietnam, Thailand, Burma Georgia, Botswana, and Serbia and Montenegro. She is currently an Adjunct Professor at Marymount University in Arlington, VA where she teaches technical writing.
