The Ministry of Information will set up a workshop and training for journalists so they can exercise their profession with quality, though a date for the workshop and training has yet to be set due to the Covid-19 situation.

Information ministry spokesman Meas Sophorn said on June 8 that minister Khieu Kanharith had recently held a meeting on the activities plan for 2022 and told officials to prepare workshops and training for journalists. The officials have to also mobile financial support from development partners for the training.

“As per plan, we want to do it in 2021 and one after another. But it also depends on the Covid-19 situation in our country, which is not subsiding,” he said.

He said the training will focus on strengthening the capacity of journalists such as professionalism, practice with ethics, and relevant laws and legal standards.

He said a journalism training commission will review the plan in detail and see whether the training can be expanded nationwide.

According to Sophorn, 4,230 local and international journalists, 498 of them women, who received press cards from the ministry last year.

Nop Vy, executive director of Cambodian Journalists Alliance (CamboJA), supported the ministry’s plan.

“The initiative is really good as it responds to the needs to support journalists, enabling them to acquire basic journalistic skills and to understand code of ethics as well as relevant legal principles,” he said.

He said CamboJA was willing to cooperate with the ministry and other institutions in providing such training. CamboJA also has financial resources to contribute to the ministry’s training.

Minister Kanharith on June 7 reminded all media outlets to publish only official information with clear source and verification to gain public trust.