The Post gets suggestive
November 20, 2008
The Phnom Penh Post today suggests you visit the Celebrity Pictures web site, which features lots of photos of bikini-clad hotties. It’s great to see The Post continuing its commitment to journalism excellence under new management.
November 20, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Seems you got it in for the PPP.
November 21, 2008 at 6:30 pm
You seem to be a bit mean-spirited with the Phnom Penh Post. Gosh, why? Recently you thottled them for a lifestyle story that included a ditty on the difficulty of hanging pictures with concrete and brick walls.
Now you are having a hard time with celebrity pictures.
I think you are on the wrong side on this one. Once again, this is not being touted as hard-news by the Post. My sense is the Post is attempting to be diverse.
While I do not track celebrity stuff – a lot of folks do.
I am very impressed with the roll-out of the daily edition of the Phnom Pehn Post. Sure there are some foibles, but look what they have unleashed. And look at the new sections they have created. On balance, I think the Post is delivering a respectable product, particularly in view of it’s infancy.
From my Point Of View, you are being harsh in a manner that is not becoming. Should some comics in the Post be removed because they are not hard news?
I very much appreciate your work product and in this instance encourage you to lighen-up.
November 22, 2008 at 9:30 am
Next they’ll be publishing a teen magazine. Why defend mush? Yeah sure it’s soft news and you don’t have to look at it if you don’t want to. But is more mush what we need in Cambodian press. I noticed this week that the new ownership no longer publishes stories critical of national government. Is the plan now to be pro government, rally around the people in power.
November 22, 2008 at 10:55 am
I have been a supporter of the Phnom Penh Post for years. I support them, and The Daily, almost unconditionally. I know many people at both places, and, with extremely few exceptions, I admire them all. They are hard-working professionals dedicated to their craft.
The issue with the “hole in the wall” story was one of context. In the printed edition the story ran in the “Home & Living” (or some such) section. On the web site the story ran under breaking news, with no contextual hints that the story was part of a better living section. It’s a daily; they have such things.
A teen magazine I could understand. Newspapers run all kinds of stories, not just breaking news. Publications aimed at the under 18 market hope to establish loyalty with readers who grow up and read the business section. Nothing wrong with that, especially if you can do so profitably.
Linking to “bikini” sites, however, is something different. It’s boorish and juvenile, the mark of an amateur. It is not something I expect of a world-class newspaper. It’s the kind of thing you expect from Pravda. Even Xinhua appears to have recently reigned in its penchant for bikinis. The Phnom Penh Post is a better class of newspaper than that.
November 22, 2008 at 5:33 pm
I am sure if the Cambodia Daily ever gets a proper website going then DAS will also point out amusing errors on that as well.
I agree with snowball’s comments on the Post’s emerging editorial leanings but I guess it is a fine balance for any publisher in Cambodia.
I do wonder if they are purposely taking a more cynical approach…
November 22, 2008 at 7:34 pm
“no longer publishes stories critical of national government.”
You can’t be serious?
Lake development based on biased impact study: NGOs
Anger, disillusionment towards war crimes court erupts at forum
Violent land eviction leaves poor villagers homeless, starving
Flooding forces school to cancel holidays for students missing class
That’s from today above the fold.
November 22, 2008 at 8:52 pm
True.
November 23, 2008 at 11:13 am
I checked out the Post website and that celebrity link was under a heading called “Sponsored Links”. Doesn’t that surely mean it’s a paid advertising link?? And therefore should have no bearing on the Post’s editorial stance (I’m pretty sure advertising and editorial are distinct operations at the Post). I’d much rather see some criticism of their full-page cigarette ads that quite subtle links to pics of celebrities. (I’m sure the fact they were beautiful women admired by everyday people is part of the problem; high-brow types that love to comment here probably wouldn’t have a problem with [fellow?] ugly people…)
As for those “serious readers” (!)(Snowball), there is definitely a place in a newspaper for things beyond public policy. Importance must be balanced with interest, and who are you to dictate what people should be interested in?
Perhaps there are just too many NGO-type follk here – they must be the ones that can’t see interest beyond policy, even if it is news that really doesn’t empower people regardless (it’s an English paper, after all).
November 24, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Whether it was right or wrong, it seems a strange paradox – on the one hand the big advertising market for an English-language publication is the NGO market, which is overwhelmingly conservative and would probably frown on this sort of link – World Vision, Licadho etc, etc, etc.
However I can see that there are many people living in Cambodia who would appreciate the link. Generally they don’t advertise but may buy the paper (although why bother if you can just click on the link?).
The problem seems to be that the Post hasn’t made up its mind what direction it wants to go in and it wants to please all markets. Some of the fillers also (strangely) smack of a staff shortage, although to be fair, some of the features remain very good.
To call the Post pro-government, though, is insane – just ask the government. I think staff at the Post would probably be dismayed to hear their work being classified as pro-any party, but it is certainly not pro-CPP. You don’t have to be as extreme as Khmer Intelligence to have a slant.
November 24, 2008 at 2:12 pm
A comment worth repeating:
DAS writes, “They are hard-working professionals dedicated to their craft.”
Hard-working …. Nope
Professionals … Nope
Dedicated ……. Nope
Craft ……….. as in arts and crafts? Maybe