Was it because he reported on corruption in Cambodia’s media or because he was corrupt himself?

Sokhet admitted sending the following four text messages to Soy Sopheap in October, as reported by The Cambodian Auckland Association Inc. (CAAI) News Media on October 30th.

“How much money did you demand from Khe Dara, her husband said that amount US$ 5,000, why were you so bad in action?”

“Khe Dara’s file was a little bit, but you extended to large, I received a report from Tong Seng who was threatened money by you as well as other members of CPP, all of them were very unhappy whatever you acted”

“Ok, all of CPP’s members were not happy, they want to destroy you. Moreover, CTN’s boss also did not welcome you”

“Tong Seng asked me…?”

Khe Dara is serving a prison sentence for firing a gun in public. Her husband Hang Mong Heng claimed that two journalists attempted to extort $7000 from him for not reporting the story, a statement he has since retracted. Tong Seng is a governor for the Cambodia People’s Party (CPP).

Why did Sokhet send those text messages to Sopheap? Why did Sopheap consider it a matter to refer to the police?

He said it was because,

“I heard some people talked about him [Soy Sopheap], some journalists criticized him at Atalantic shop [called Arun Reah], so I decided to inform him as soon as possible.”

The October issue of Southeast Asia Globe printed an article on corruption among Cambodian reporters, editors, publishers and TV news anchors. In that article, ironically penned by Sokhet himself, he writes that from the Atlantic coffee shop,

“journalists will make a phone call for an appointment and then set a price for spiking (deleting) the story or changing the facts to fit a victim’s preferred profile.”

Cambodian officials and publishers acknowledged that corruption exists among journalists, but none have taken responsibility. Pen Samithi, president of the Club of Cambodian Journalists, said,

“I recognize that there are many corrupt journalists and that only way to solve this problem is for the ministry of information to be strict in issuing a license to open a newspaper.”

Samithi is the editor and chief of pro-CPP newspaper Ramsey Kampushea. Meatophoum newspaper publisher Om Chandara also wants tighter regulation, and criticized the ministry of information,

“It hands out passes and registration to untrained journalists who go around exporting money everywhere, from capital to provinces.”

The minister of information, Khieu Kanharith, responded by passing the buck, “It [corruption] is because the authorities in the provinces are weak.” Sokhet quoted Soy Sopheap, “I am not corrupt and I have never received money,” in the same piece.

There is a great deal of foreign news coverage in Cambodia. The Phnom Penh Post gained fame for its war reporting in the 90s, and the Cambodia Daily, a non-profit project of Bernie Krishner’s, strives to not only produce high-quality news, but also to train young journalists. The Southeast Asia Globe, published by former employees of Germany’s Focus magazine, is a full color monthly with offices in Cambodia and Thailand. All employ Khmer and foreign staff. The Mirror translates Khmer language new articles into English and posts them online, while the anonymous author of weblog Details are Sketchy provides insightful commentary on the Cambodia and her media.

Cambodia’s press freedom rank by Reporters Without Borders improved in 2009 to the 117th most corrupt out of 175 countries polled, up from a rank of 126th in 2008. This year at least one journalist was arrested for reporting on corruption, not counting Sokhet, while last year two opposition journalists were killed in the run up to the 2008 national election.

Sex workers arrested are sent to “rehabilitation” centers that are basically prisons, where women are held in communal cells with no bathrooms or running water, hardly receive food or water, some are beaten and raped, and are denied Anti-retroviral drug treatment for HIV positive women.

The Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers has a series of studies of the perceived results and effects of the 100% Condom Use Program according to sex workers in different countries, such as Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar. You can also see the video the have uploaded on their Blip.tv channel Sex Workers Present, where a comprehensive video with explanations of the implications of the 100% condom use program, interviews with women who have been arrested or sent to “rehabilitation” facilities where no type of education or training is received, and how these programs that connect condom use exclusively with sex workers are not going to be able to impact HIV and STI propagation among the rest of the population. The Asia pacific Network of Sex Workers recently won the 2008 international Award for Action on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights at the International AIDS conference in Mexico City the first week of August. The organization was founded in 1994 and has been working with sex workers on health and human rights along with other organizations and groups such as Empower Thailand, Sweetly Japan, Pink Triangle Malaysia, the Scarlet Alliance Australia and Sonagachi.

The following video is named Caught between the Tiger and the Crocodile:

After graduating from Brown University in 2004, the articulate, cunning Elena Lesley was awarded a Henry Luce Scholarship to Cambodia to write for The Phnom Penh Post. With a long-time interest in Asia, it seemed like a good match. But knee-deep in a society scourged by years of civil war and gut-wrenching poverty, the experience quickly proved eye-opening.

She vowed to return.

Elena then spent three years in the U.S. reporting for St. Petersburg Times in Florida, but found herself frustrated at the lack of news coverage of Cambodia outside the country. Hearing that Cambodia's genocide tribunal was underway, she returned to Phnom Penh on the ultra-prestigious Fulbright grant to blog for the Post.

Now, she speaks with Global Voices author Geoffrey Cain about her blog, the tribunal, and the challenges it faces.

From your personal observations as a journalist-blogger, what challenges does the Khmer Rouge Tribunal face in bringing the perpetrators to justice?

Of course, there’s the issue everyone keeps raising: age. Since most of the defendants are in their 70s and 80s and not in particularly good health, there is a great deal of concern that some could die before trials begin. This is probably what worries most of the Cambodians I have discussed the tribunal with. While a trial for torture chief “Comrade Duch” could begin as early as September, any predictions for the other defendants are somewhat uncertain at this point.

Part of the ambiguity stems from the relatively complicated nature of the cases against the four other defendants. I’m certainly no expert on the minutiae of each case, but Duch’s is apparently more straightforward – after all, he has cooperated with the court to a certain extent.

There is another issue at play in “bringing perpetrators to justice,” and it involves the scope of the prosecutions. When the United Nations and Cambodian government were negotiating the tribunal’s creation, Prime Minister Hun Sen (himself a former member of the Khmer Rouge) insisted that only a handful of the most senior leaders be tried. Critics of the Prime Minister have claimed that he intentionally narrowed the scope of prosecutions so as not to implicate any former Khmers Rouge who now hold high positions in his government.

When you think about all the people who were involved in planning and implementing Khmer Rouge policies, five defendants seems like a very small number.

Is the tribunal addressing these challenges effectively, or is complete justice a lost cause 28 years after the atrocities concluded?

Well, what do you mean by “complete justice?” Or even “justice” for that matter? I don’t think the tribunal is a lost cause, but I do believe it is somewhat symbolic and abstract.

If you look at it for what it is, literally, the tribunal is a punitive process for a very small group of people. However, there are many organizations that are using these legal proceedings as a jumping off point for discussion and education, both of which are sorely needed in Cambodia.

Supporters of the tribunal often argue that it can set a new standard for the Cambodian judiciary and help end the country’s “culture of impunity.” Both are very ambitious goals, and while I hope the tribunal helps move Cambodia toward a more just and accountable society, it’s impossible to predict how much impact it will have in these areas.

Which is why I believe educational and outreach efforts related to the tribunal are of primary importance. Many Cambodians have never truly come to terms with their experiences under the Khmer Rouge. At the same time, around 60 percent of Cambodians were born after the Pol Pot era and have little knowledge about the period. While younger generations may not realize it, the legacy of that disastrous social experiment is still very much alive in their country.

The court, along with various other organizations, has been coordinating outreach efforts, but it’s a tall order. Accessibility, both practically and theoretically, is problematic. The location of the court itself is hugely inconvenient. At least a 40-minute drive from central Phnom Penh, the judicial complex’s remote location is no doubt a deterrent for many who would otherwise attend proceedings. In terms of the substance of the court’s work, concepts and arguments are highly abstract and during this phase, the “investigative” portion, little information is made available to the public. Trying to engage a largely agrarian population – many of whom are just struggling to survive – under these conditions is, to say the least, difficult. Which is why, in my opinion, more resources should be devoted to such efforts.

In addition to what the tribunal can do for Cambodia, there’s also the issue of setting a precedent for the international community. As one Khmer Rouge survivor told me: “It is very, very important to put these people on trial as an example to other dictators. You cannot abuse people this way and get away with it – even 30 years later.”

How do you tread the line so tactfully between blogging and journalism? Do you blog about the tribunal differently than, say, writing for a traditional newspaper?

Writing for the blog is definitely different from writing for a newspaper. The tone can be a lot more casual and each entry doesn’t require a traditional “news hook,” as an article might. So there’s much more flexibility and posts can range from pretty standard news updates to anything international-justice related that I find interesting.

Of course, in the blog I’m also able to inject some of my own thoughts and opinions. To be honest though, I try to keep this to a minimum. My main goal is to convey tribunal developments and issues surrounding the court to an international audience – not necessarily to weigh in on all of them.

Some say professional journalists and bloggers operate in separate worlds. Do you think journalists should embrace blogs more enthusiastically for reporting? Can blogging enhance traditional journalism?

Definitely. It’s silly to say professional journalists and bloggers operate in separate worlds because, really, a blog can be whatever you want it to be. It’s just a question of format. Many people seem to be under the impression that blogging is somehow inherently different from mainstream journalism and that blogs are synonymous with personal musings and ranting.

They can be used for these purposes, and that’s totally legitimate. However, they can also be used simply to report news or to supplement what appears in a publication’s print version.

Do you think blogging has potential as a “new face” of interactive journalism, in our age of Web 2.0, interactivity, and social networking websites?

I certainly think blogs are a convenient format for conveying news and ideas. Whether they will serve as spaces for valuable online interactivity and analysis, I’m not sure. We’ll have to wait and see how much substantive discussion they can foster.

Elena's musings can be read at The Tribunal Report.