Consumption of online news in Cambodia

By Vorn Makara and Ly You Y

IN the past, people would get their news through so-called “traditional media” sources such as newspapers, magazines and radio stations, but the emerging digital medium of online news is beginning to compete with those sources.

In the past few years, the number of people using the internet has increased, spurring the creation of many online news websites. Reading the news online is conven-ient and more timely, as it is constantly updated.

“I read online news every day at work because I don’t want to buy a newspaper,” Van Bun Ang, 24, a deputy translation trainer at International Co-operation Cambodia, says. “Reading news online is fast and convenient, and I can get updated information.”

Ly Rath, a 23-year-old Master’s candidate at the Royal University of Law and Economics, says her father always buys the newspaper to read at home, but she rarely reads it, preferring to get her news online.

Ly Rath believes people like her father enjoy reading physical newspapers because it’s easier on their eyes: “Older people prefer reading newspapers because the type in a newspaper is bigger than the type on a website.”

Because of the march of technology, more and more people are using the internet for communicating, networking and searching for information. It’s even a source of entertainment for some of us.

News websites are a tool for spreading information and a way for emerging media companies to compete with tradit-ional media sources. There are many news websites that focus on Cambodia, such as The Phnom Penh Post, Cambodia Express News (CEN), Koh Santepheap, Radio Free Asia, DAP News and many others.

CEN website founder Pen Samitthy says he created his website because he wanted “to serve people who like reading news online, as most people who have access to the internet prefer getting their news this way”. He says his website has, on average, about 1,900 visitors each day.

The DAP news site is also popular in Cambodia. Soy Soph-eap, its director-general, told LIFT: “I worked at a newspaper in Kyoto, Japan, where I learned to disseminate news quickly to the public.

“Cambodia is enjoying a huge increase in internet capacity, which is why I decided to create the DAP website.”

Koh Santepheap editor-in-chief Yin Piseth has similar thoughts. He says the Koh Santepheap website “is for people who like reading news online”, adding that most of his website regulars are young or middle-aged people who are educated and have access to the internet.

Yin Piseth also says news agencies must continually innovate by harnessing technology. “We cannot neglect technology and keep doing things the old way. We have to keep our news agency fresh by putting news online,” he says.

One obstacle online news agencies face is the fact that internet use in Cambodia is not widespread. But Sor Kunthea, a 22-year-old student at the Royal University of Law and Economics, says that even though she doesn’t have internet access at home, she still enjoys reading news online when she can, because it’s cheaper than buying a newspaper.

“If I read news online, I spend only 1,500 riels and I can read a variety of articles on different websites, but if I buy a news-paper, I can only read that one newspaper,” she says.

According to the 2010 Cambodia Communication Review, there were 113,380 internet users in Cambodia as of June last year. Although this number is small, it is widely assumed that it is increasing rapidly.

“In the future, the number of people getting their news online will increase, becase online news is invading newspapers, radio stations and magazines around the world. People can get up-to-the-minute news by accessing the internet through their phone or computer, so it’s a very convenient method,” Pen Samitthy says.

According to a report by the Pew Research

Centre, Americans are more likely to get their news online than from a newspaper.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011081751101/LIFT/consumption-staying-in-touch-with-the-world.html

Experience sharing with AYLP

Today there was a workshop that the American Youth Leadership Program (AYLP) with Department of Media and Communication (DMC). There are around 30 high school students from different states in the United States came to Cambodia to learn about the life of people.

It's a great day for me to have chance sharing experience with them. They are mostly under 18 years old and is study in grade 11 or 12 at high school. I am really impress in what they are sharing to me about their experience with the homestay in the provinces in Cambodia. They said the people are very friendly and kind though they are poor, and they really appreciated the struggle of the youth in the community. People in the community just like one family, because one of them were surprise when they suppose that one little boy who is just a neigbour always come to his neighbor's house, eat food or even sleep there. it's quite nice for me to hear that, but maybe it's only happy in the province or villages, in the city, Phnom Penh, i also don't go to my neighbour's house, mostly i never talk to them, because i leave my house in the morning and come back at night. We just come back and get in the house, only the old people talk to each other, for me, I do nothing but smiling.

Sharing with those high school student, I learn more than what I learn from media and other people. They ask me when you hear about America, what do you think of and I told them taht freedom, and they asked why, I said because most of the parents and children over there just like friend, people are sharing their opinion. They asked whether I want to go to American, and I said who don't want to, and their express is a bit strange and I want to get a scholarship to study there, and they suggested that if Cambodian people have a chance to go there, they should learn or get the experience from there and come back to Cambodia to develop the country. I totally agree with them.

I asked them whether the kids in the USA have lap top and internet access, they said yes but this have blind the children, they mostly always care about the internet, the new technology such as Ipad, Iphone or Ipod, they never know how to survive without this, they said if they were sent to Cambodia with the situation like Cambodia children, they may not survive.


It's really interested to learn from them and i ask them whether you have a lot of freedom to hang out at night, he said it depends on each family, even next door house also have different rule, it's because of the diversity of people in the United States.

Most of them have raised the positivea and negative site of my country. To me, i think compare to other countries in the middle east, Cambodia is far better than them, we are peaceful and moving small step forward to reach the standard like the countries in the Southeast Asia. I feel more postitive than negative about the country. I do hope that I will get a chance to learn or visit the USA one day, and find out more what i want to know.

Like one sentence from my lecturer, he said that "a person who only know how to live on their own is not yet a human, a human should know how to help other, and make the people around them happy". I love this quote.

I will try my best to have a better life so that i can help the people around to be happy also. I am really appreciate what Bill Gate is doing now, he is always sharing or giving his money to charity to help people, I wish there will more people like him in the world. Thanks to anyone who have the willing to help other without asking for something back.

Global Politics Summer School Phnom Penh 2011

GP Summer School Cambodia

International Conflict Resolution in the Age of New Media

July 14 - 27, 2011 in Phnom Penh

Two weeks had ended, I, one of the participant at Global Politics Summer School 2011, am very happy in joining this program. The 31-participant from the four countries are very friendly and active. They are from Austria, Germany, Vietnam and Cambodia. Most of the Cambodia student are from the Department of International Study and Department of Media and Communication.

It is funded by DAAD and corporate with Royal University of Phnom Penh, University of Social Sciences and Humanities at Vietnam National University Hanoi and the center of Global Politic at Free University Berlin. New history have opened for Cambodia since it's the first time was held in Phnom Penh.

The courses:

1. New Approach to Global Politics (Prof. Dr. Klaus Segbers)

2. Media and Journalism in the European Context (Prof. Dr. Siegfried Weischenberg)

3. Media and Politics in the Cambodian Context (Vichea Tieng)

4. Reconciliation Processes in Comparative Perspective (Dr. Wolfgang Form)

5. Vietnam as a Regional (security) Player (Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Quang Minh)

6. EU External Action and Crisis Management (Dr. Marco Overhaus) and

Extra courses: Regional Conflicts and Regional Orgnizations: EU and ASEAN in Comparison (Cheunboran Chanborey), Regional Border Conflicts: the Case of the Cambodian-Thai Border (Cheunboran Chanborey), Peace and Conflict Resolution Cambodian Vicil Wars (Dr. Boraden Nhem)

It's a great chance for everyone to meet these great people, they are very potential and knowledgeable on the subject that they are lecturing. Also, the students from Cambodia and Vietnam are very friendly, and active. It seem like we all have something-oriented that make us feel so happy to see each other. Most of them are very great, intelligent and kind. I feel really good to involve in this course. Firstly, I know a lot of information about Vietnam that I have never known before. Vietnam is very develop and modern than Cambodia thought they are communist country, but the students are very smart and potential to get the scholarship in other country. They really enjoy their lives such as hanging out with friends at very late at night. For me, live in Phnom Penh, I never know where the night club and even don't dare to go there. I used to stay late night to 12pm but it was because of a festival not hanging out for fun. However, I think we should appreciate what we have and think of what could be done more. Second, they are very friendly in asking us to email or call them when we get to Vietnam, Hong Kong, or Berlin. The group that we create in Facebook is very active and we seem to miss each other a lot, though most of the time I don't speak to them. We do enjoy the last moment of farewell party. Thanks to the program coordinator, Franzika, and local cordinator, Vatey, and espcailly DAAD who giving the fund to make this great program happened. Last but not least, I learn more new knowledge about what Global Politic is, Transitional Justice, EU role, and the conflict between other country in the world. Though sometimes, I try very hard to understand what the course is about but I do appreciate that, because it have alert or give me more idea on what the world is about. Learning media, we should try to attend as many workshop as we can to get more understanding.

I would try my best to learn from the opportunity that I get and learning from the people around me. Many of my friends are moving very fast and so successful in their career and study, so as their friend, I can't go backward, I need to moving forward as well though it maybe just a small step compare to them. People is different and has each unique point, it's hard to compare people, so just do what we can do and be satisfy with what we do.

Another thing I learn from an interview on TV

Sorry that I haven't do any review on the films that listed in the previous post yet, but I promise I will do it.

Today I got some ideas for everyone to think. People always say losing is the mother of success, I do support it, without losing, you won't understand how important those things to you. You will learn when you lose and from that try to remember it as a lesson.

Successful people also set their own standard, they have leadership, they have their own value. Don't think too much about other people's thought, behave the way you like. Think of how you want other to look at you, not think of how people want you to be like. Then your life is just live for other not for yourself. One phrase on my T-shirt: Your life you decide.

However, setting a high standard for ourselves may need lots of motivation and efford to achieve it, it may also good even we don't achieve that because as we say it's high already. But if we set just a low one though we achieve it we won't feel it worth to do so.

In information-processing theory, it assumes that individual operate like complex biocomputers, with certain built in information-handling capacities and strategies (Baran & Davis, 2009). it's believe that people expose to a lot of information or we can call it noise, so they are firstly, get attention to a piece of information, then interpret it, and they are interested in it, they will store it in their memory for short term or long term.

So my blog may work in some kind of this thoery but i do hope it's store in people's memory for long term.

Thanks for reading it :) have a nice day

I'm coming back

I have suffer hard time in opening my blog, i don't know why i can't open it even at my school. I suppose I have lost this great blog of me. However, I am back :)

Today I want to talk about some happy thing of my friends that six of my classmates are going to do their internship at three difference Asian Country: India, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Without them, my class will be silent, because most of them are humour people, we like teasing each other about study, attitude, or even personnality. People around us may not feel uncomfort, when they saw us teasing each other but they may not know how fun we are.

Not only those have succeeded, other classmates have tried thier hard to make themseleves potential, some are applying for internship in international organizations, some already have good places to go. I also have to try hard to keep the same pace as them though I can't make it better.


Oh I forget to raise something:
There are two big mistake I have made this week: one is I was responsible for shooting the event of documentary film screening of my batch, unfortunately, half of my footage is silent movie that I didn't wear headphone to notice the volume. How come I am too stupid. So please be careful with it, it will be a silly mistake if u make it :( however; my classmate and lecturer are kindly enough to courage me to regard as a lesson. Thanks to them

Another one is I make a big mistake of breaking promise with my friend, he has told me about one internship abroad and he ask me not to tell anyone about it, but I have told some of my classmate, I do hate myself that I can't be a trustful person. I learn a big lesson now.

What can I say more?
Maybe I can say something about my study. Lecturers have screened lots of documentary films to us, I will try to write the film review of those. Those are Schindler's List, Dawin's Nightmare, Capitalism Love Story. Please stay tune to see it

I wish next time I can make some good news to post.

Thanks
Lovely wish

My Shooting

I mean that I am shooting a documentary about the "Finding Family" after the Khmer Rouge Regime. My protaganist is very smart guy I think. He is a very fexible, humor but tough.

Anyway I am also enjoy the moments that i and my friend stay at his house one night. He and his mother are so talkative and very friendly to us, I feel they like us just like their relatives. But after i think back i feel an uncomfortable things about what they do, I don't know why.

Being a Camerawoman is not easy, carrying a Camera all day long make me feel so exhausted, just wanna sleep without having a bath. Though it's hard job but i love it. I hope my production will get a recognition from other people.

Today, there are a lot of thing I raised, it's a bit complicated since i haven't written any article up to now. After I have a diary online, I rarely write the article to post. I will try to find something new for my blog

Thanks for your supports

GOOD LUCK

A simple story from a friend

This is diary blog of me, but I didn't really post my every life, so confusing. I always got a lot of words in my head but when I open my computer, connect to the internet, it's quite too late at night to write the words and sometimes I don't really know where I need to start. There's lot of things happen a day, I found it hard to start the first sentence of my blog.

Now it's time for me to decide thing that may be the way for my future or I will be walk on a big circle to get into what I love to do. Some people said that you don't have to think about what you gonna do in the future since now, you can just try to try what you can first. 'Yes' this may a good answer for you if you haven't know your goal yet.

Oh it's remind me one story that my friend told me:

One person is carrying a heavy bag and getting to his house on the 80th floor, unfortunately, elevator is broken. So the only way that he can do is go to his house by ladder. He is happy to step on ladder from one step to another, up to 20th floor, he felt it's too heavy to carry the bag, so he drop it at the 20th floor and move on. Then he's got to the 40th floor, he feels a bit happy since he's got to the middle already. He still move on to 60th floor and he feels very happy because there's only 20 floor more that he need to go on. He's happy stepping on to the 80th floor, at last he's got his home, but the problem happens he forget to take his key with him, so he can't lock in the house, he kept the key in his bag, so he regret that he didn't get it along.

Anything else that you can compare this story to you life, I got a comparison, let's see if you agree on that:

THIS person is 'You' who have 80 years for life. The bag is your dream that you dream of when you were young, and up to 20, you've got lot of things to think and do, then you sway your goal or dream, after that you grow older to 40 years old and you feel happy since it's already half of your life, you don't care a lot, just move on with what you've got. Then up to 60 you happy again that you've got little time to live on, so you don't care much just be the way it is. When you reach 80, you start looking back to the young age and you realize that you have lost your dream, the dream that you already carry for 20 years, then........

Does it make sense to you? Hope it does.

That story remind me to think lot of think and I also don't know what I have done is right or wrong but I just know that now I really want to do it and want to have it. We can say that we will never know what's gonna happen tomorrow, so if we can't, just prepare for it and let's see what it'll turn to be.

I got lot of things to think now, whether I should doing my intern for the things I like or just do something else to get internship abroad. This will affect my future, I supposed it could.

Anyone can give me some ideas, welcome for those.

GOOD NIGHT, sweet dream :-)