Cambodia’s Phnom Penh Post sold by Australian owner to Malaysian investor

The Phnom Penh Post began publishing in 1992, producing a fortnightly edition overseen by the American journalist Michael Hayes. It was sold in 2008 to Bill Clough

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Reporters Without Border said Cambodia has dropped 10 places in the World Press Freedom Index, from 132 last year to 142 this year out of 180 countries. File photo: AP

Published: 12:41pm, 6 May 2018Updated: 11:04pm, 6 May 2018

The newspaper widely considered the last independent media voice in Cambodia has been sold by its Australian publisher to a Malaysian investor.

Saturday’s announcement by Post Media CEO Bill Clough identified the buyer of the English-language Phnom Penh Post as Sivakumar G., who was described as having an experienced journalist’s background and representing a strong investment group from Malaysia. No price was given.

“The recent times have been a challenge, as the worldwide decline in market share for newspaper advertising has also been felt here in Cambodia,” Clough, who bought the newspaper in 2008, said in his statement.

Politics has been at least as big a threat to the Cambodian press.

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government has closed virtually all independent media and convinced the courts to dissolve the only credible opposition party ahead of a general election this July.

The Post’s main English-language rival, The Cambodia Daily, shut its doors last year after being presented with an onerous tax bill, an action that many believe was politically motivated.