On 27 October 2023, Asia Centre convened the second meeting of the multi-stakeholder advisory board to present the preliminary findings of its study for the “Assessment of Media Development in Cambodia”.
The meeting took place at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Phnom Penh and was attended by 23 participants, including representatives from the relevant ministries, diplomatic missions, media-related CSOs, journalists, and media professionals.
Sardar Umar Alam, UNESCO Representative to Cambodia, and Dr James Gomez from the Asia Centre gave the welcome remarks, outlining the importance of using UNESCO’s media indicators to assess the media landscape in the country and also provided an overview of the progress achieved so far in doing such an assessment.
In the second part of the session, Dr Marc Pinol Rovira, from Asia Centre, presented the preliminary findings in five parts, one for each category of indicators: media-related regulation; plurality and diversity of the media sector; the role of media as a platform for democratic discourse; professional capacity building and supporting institutions for media professionals; and infrastructural capacity.
Then, a question and answer session took place, in which participants could seek clarifications and also had the opportunity to provide their input for the research team at Asia Centre to complete the report. The session concluded with the closing remarks by Mikel Aguirre Idiaquez, UNESCO’s Project Officer, which also included a brief outline of the project’s next steps.
After this meeting, the primary data collection process will continue, followed by the drafting of the report. Asia Centre will convene a validation meeting in December, also in Phnom Penh, to present the findings of the report to the members of the advisory board. Upon completion of the project, the report will provide a policy toolkit for government agencies, such as the Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, and media practitioners to contribute to the development of the media landscape in the country in light of the ongoing developments like the constant and rapid evolution of the digital sphere and the increasing importance role of artificial intelligence.
The Centre undertook the assessment in partnership with UNESCO and the Department of Media and Communication (DMC) of the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP) with the support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).
Asia Centre is a civil society research institute in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It serves as a knowledge partner and undertakes evidence-based research as well as provides capacity-building training for end beneficiaries. If you would like to collaborate with the Centre, please send an expression of interest to contact@asiacentre.org.
