PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) – When Cambodia’s main opposition leader was arrested over the weekend, one of this country’s last independent media outlets rushed reporters out in the middle of night to cover the story, just as it’s done for nearly a quarter-century.
But the English-language Cambodia’s Daily’s reportage about the arrest of Kem Sokha was a tragic story in and of itself: It was on the front page of the paper’s final issue Monday.
The venerable broadsheet, which has helped pioneer press freedom and train generations of journalists in Cambodia since it was founded in 1993, is the latest victim of a determined push by the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen to silence critics in the run-up to 2018 elections.