Organization
Voice of America Khmer Service
The Voice of America Khmer Service (វីអូអេ, VOA Khmer) is the Khmer-language news service of the Voice of America, on the air from Washington since 1955.[1][2] It brings news of Cambodia, the United States and the world to Cambodians in the country and abroad, by radio, television and the internet.[1]
History
The service first went on the air on August 15, 1955, one of the language services of the Voice of America, which had begun broadcasting in 1942.[3] It went off the air after a few months and returned in 1962.[1] That year Ang Khen was recruited in Washington and became its newscaster, and Tes Saroeum joined as an editor in 1963, staying until early 2004.[3] Ker Yann, later the senior editor, joined in 1970. During the Vietnam War, news of that war led the program almost every day, and Cambodia came into the news mainly when there was fighting.[1]
The listener Un Bunheang heard the service during the Khmer Rouge years. He remembered its report on the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, and said of that time, "When I listened to VOA, I was hopeful and strived to live."[3]
For many years the service mostly translated English reports from the central VOA newsroom in Washington. Later it gained the freedom to produce its own original reports.[1] Chhim Sumedh, a newscaster who joined in 1986, has said he puts news about Cambodia first.[1] By 2009, under Chris Decherd, the service produced 90 minutes of radio a day for Cambodia and Southeast Asia, broadcast on AM from Bangkok and through two FM stations in Phnom Penh. Its team counted it as the largest international broadcaster in Cambodia, reaching more than 25 percent of the market. It was also trying out audio slideshows online, pairing its radio reports with photographs.[4]
In 2010, its 55th year, the service broadcast two shows a day on medium wave and shortwave, from 5 to 5:30 a.m. and from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. Its programs were repeated on Women Media Center FM 102, Beehive FM 105 and Angkor Ratha FM 95.5 in Siem Reap, and its television stories ran on TVK and CTN.[1][3]
On the day before Cambodia's 2012 local elections, the Ministry of Information made FM stations stop foreign news broadcasts, allowing them back on the air 48 hours later. On June 25, 2013, the ministry ordered all FM stations to stop rebroadcasting foreign Khmer-language radio for the 31 days before the national parliamentary elections. On June 28, VOA called on Cambodian officials to reverse the order. Its executive editor, Steve Redisch, said that taking VOA off FM stations deprived audiences of vital news ahead of the July 28 election. VOA kept broadcasting by satellite, web streaming and AM radio from outside Cambodia, and Cambodia later reversed the restrictions.[5]
As of 2017 the service's editor was Chris Decherd, a former staff member of The Cambodia Daily, and several members of its teams in Washington and Phnom Penh had also worked at that paper.[6]
Programs
Roughly one third of the programming covers world news, one third news of the United States, and the rest Cambodia. Programs cover politics, the economy, health, the environment, religion, education, social issues and history. Each report must rest on at least two or three sources so that every party involved is heard, and listeners can put questions directly to politicians, government and NGO officials and experts.[1]
As of September 2026 the service's website carried an online television evening news program, a morning radio program, video programs, interviews, a daily news selection and the sections Cambodia Today and Hello VOA. The site noted that no live stream was available.[2]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 VOA Khmer, VOA Khmer: 55 years of timely, objective news (August 2010)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 VOA Khmer, home page (September 2026)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 VOA Khmer, Voice of America's Khmer Service prepares for 55th anniversary (August 2010)
- ↑ James Cridland, The power of radio with pictures: VOA Khmer (November 2009)
- ↑ Inside VOA, VOA condemns Cambodian ban on foreign broadcasts (July 2013)
- ↑ VOA Khmer, A small paper with a big impact (September 2017)