Mekong Times
Mekong Times
Mekong Times was a short-lived newspaper in Cambodia, launched in February 2008 and closed in August of the same year backed by Media Consulting and Development,
The newspaper employed more than 40 staff and ran on a budget of about US$30,000 a month, opened on February 8 and had published 135 editions, according to a report in the rival Phnom Penh Post. The 12-page Mekong Times, with a four-page Khmer-language insert, covered local, regional and international news, and had in the past received praise from Prime Minister Hun Sen for its integrity and impartial reporting.
The official launch press release:
MC&D launches a daily English and Khmer language newspaper in Cambodia
Media Consulting and Development (MC&D) has the pleasure to announce the launching of a new daily English and Khmer language newspaper: The Mekong Times, commencing publication on Wednesday, February 6.
The Mekong Times will publish five days a week, and will initially be printed at 5,000 copies.
The Mekong Times will cover all economic, political and development-related events in Cambodia - as well as offering a comprehensive selection of stories on these topics from Asean, Asia and the rest of the world.With our new daily newspaper The Mekong Times, MC&D hopes to bring more information on Cambodia to decision-makers and those interested in knowing what is happening in Cambodia on a daily basis.
The Mekong Times will benefit from key elements including experience, professionalism and independence.
The team working for The Mekong Times has extended experience in journalism. Some of its foreign journalists have more than 15 years’ experience in Cambodia, working for leading publications. Its Cambodian reporters have worked in foreign publications after being trained to international standards here and abroad.
Based on its four-year experience of monitoring the press and publishing specialized information for business, politics and development professionals in Cambodia and abroad, MC&D is reaffirming its ambition – to publish useful and non-partisan news. MC&D believes that our independence from political parties, business interests and governments in Cambodia or abroad and from any international influence is essential to the success of our company and projects.
MC&D is a foreign-owned private company, launched in 2003.
MC&D has been well-known by the public for publishing Somne Thmey (a weekly Khmer-language newspaper) and Development Weekly (an English-language weekly newspaper), that are now being combined to form The Mekong Times.
Mekong Times newspaper shuts down
Cambodia’s brewing newspaper war claimed its first victim this week, with closure of the English-language Mekong Times.
Mekong Times’ editor-in-chief, Neth Pheaktra, told the DPA news agency that a lack of funds had forced the closure of the hard copy edition but that the paper, which also published in Khmer, was still considering options for putting out an online edition.
The Phnom Penh Post reported details of the business:
The Mekong Times, which employed more than 40 staff and ran on a budget of about US$30,000 a month, opened on February 8 and had published 135 editions. The 12-page newspaper, with a four-page Khmer-language insert, covered local, regional and international news, and had in the past received praise from Prime Minister Hun Sen for its integrity and impartial reporting.
Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith said that the discontinuation of The Mekong Times was unfortunate because it meant a loss of balance in the information presented by foreign media.
I am not a neutral observer in this newspaper war (Disclosure: I am an investor in the Phnom Penh Post), but am greatly saddened by the closure both as a reader and as an investor.
As a reader, newspapers are always best in a highly competitive environment. Competition keeps reporters lively.
As an investor, a shrinking of the market is always bad news. The more publications there are, the more aware advertisers become of the value of newspapers. My hope is that the battling newspapers expand the market rather than eat each other.
Hong Kong’s English-language publishing market offers an example of what I hope Cambodia avoids. The South China Morning Post has developed a de facto monopoly on English-language news on Hong Kong. This is bad for the reporters (they can become lazy) it is bad for ad sales (hard to convince advertisers to look at a shrinking market).
Despite closure of the Mekong Times, the DPA story goes on to say that Cambodia’s media is not suffering overall from shrinkage:
Cambodia’s Khmer and English-language media market has exploded recently, giving advertisers a much broader range of choices.
Magazines on subjects from specialty computer and mobile phone glossies to interior design advice decorate news stands as the country’s burgeoning middle class spreads its consumer wings.
Short-lived English-language weekly magazine The Advisor closed for ‘a hiatus’ earlier this month, saying advertisers were increasingly embracing the cheaper option of internet websites, and its parent Expat Advisory Services continues to operate online.
Phnom Penh Post launches daily edition
Congratulations to the Phnom Penh Post for launching its first daily edition on Friday.
In this era of newspaper downsizing, it is great to see The Phnom Penh Post expanding from two times per month into a daily operation.
Disclosure: I joined in the round of investment that has helped the newspaper go daily.
Cambodia is country very much in need of a vibrant free press and I look forward to reading what the Phnom Penh Post team can accomplish.
I have not yet seen a physical copy of the daily paper, but here’s some reviews from bloggers who have:
Surprisingly, its price is now down to KHR 2,500 per copy from previously KHR 4,000, despite being 100% color. Readers can also access the PDF version of the paper from its website, simply by signing a free membership. I hope the paper will keep this free service available always. That’ll be a really awesome way for me to catch up with news at home!
Kudos to the Post team for the innovation!
First, congratulations to Michael Hayes and the new owners–we finally have a REAL English language newspaper here in Cambodia, something that looks, feels, and reads like an honest to goodness, daily newspaper. That is a good thing.
On the positive side, I have no problems with the editorial. Good, solid content. 24 pages, color photography. Plenty of national news, with a nice mix of regional/international/wire service stuff. Also good to see travel, lifestyle, and sports sections. Business stuff is also good.
(more…)
Ross Dunkley
A brash and veteran newspaperman of greater Indo-China, Dunkley has headed the launch of publications including the Vietnam Investment Review, Myanmar Times (English and Burmese-language editions) as well as the conversion of The Phnom Penh Post into a daily newspaper. (Planned for August 2008)
Dunkley often has strong views and has never been known to hold them silently.
Copy editor jobs at Cambodia’s Phnom Penh Post newspaper
Are you young (or young at heart), ambitious and ready for a newspapering adventure?
Here’s your chance to follow in the footsteps of Southeast Asia’s great foreign correspondents at Cambodia’s most prestigious English-language newspaper:
The Phnom Penh Post, a bi-monthly newspaper that is shifting into a daily, is looking for 2 or 3 aggressive sub-editors who are not afraid to tear stories apart, but who also have a lot of patience in dealing with young reporters with limited English and nascent reporting skills.
As the veteran of another Asian newspaper launch, I am sure this would be a great launching point for a career in journalism (and fun).
Interested?
Contact
Seth Meixner, Editor
The Phnom Penh Post
Email: seth.meixner at phnompenhpost dot com
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