"Cambodia's Hun Sen shuts down independent media outlet Voice of Democracy", 13 February 2022

Cambodia's leader Hun Sen has shut down one of the country's last independent media outlets ...

VOD, or the Voice of Democracy, had published a story … that "hurt" his government's reputation, Hun Sen said ...

Access to past stories on VOD's Khmer and English sites has also been blocked by some internet service providers, staff confirmed.

"People are shocked and still trying to process this," associate editor Ananth Baliga told ... "It has been a very accelerated time frame from when the story was published to the suspension of a licence."

… The Cambodian Center for Independent Media (CCIM), the non-governmental organisation which operated the news organisation, issued a statement saying the outlet had been quoting a government spokesman in its report and that it regretted the confusion caused…

The CCIM has received funding from several Western embassies, as well as rights and press freedom groups including Reporters Without Borders and Transparency International.

VOD published and broadcast in Khmer and English, and recent stories had included ground-breaking coverage on a slavery scam.

Its mission, as stated on its website, was to "promote democratic governance, human rights, the development of all economic sectors, and an independent and sustainable environment for media".

Many Cambodia watchers said it was the main remaining news organisation in the country doing hard-hitting journalism after a major crackdown on civil expression…

… Josef Benedict, a researcher with global civil society group CIVICUS, said VOD's closure was part of a continued "assault on civic space and press freedom" in Cambodia…