Gov’t criticizes media coverage of strike violence
The high-ranking government officials and global clothing brand representatives who took part in a meeting in Phnom Penh on Wednesday both raised concerns about the media coverage of last month’s lethal repression of a nationwide strike by garment workers and its aftermath. The meeting was called after a group of international brands who source garments from factories in Cambodia requested talks concerning the lethal and violent repression of the strike that saw five workers shot dead by military police wielding AK-47s and more than 20 people jailed. The topic of media representations of the repression was raised by Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol, who told the meeting —which included representatives of H&M, Gap and Puma—that the government was at the mercy of media portrayals of its repression of the strike. … The brand representatives also raised the issue of news coverage of the government’s armed repression of the strike and questioned whether it was presenting a full picture of the situation. “More often than not, [the media] doesn’t present a situation in a context or fully balanced, so it’s important we’re able to come to Cambodia and hear directly from you,” said a representative of Gap. A representative of H&M, which has sourced clothes from Cambodia since 1998 and is the world’s second-largest clothing retailer, said that the reports detailing the repression and the incarceration of 21 strikers beaten and arrested last month were also not good for his company. …. Sok Chenda Sophea, the secretary-general of Council for the Development of Cambodia, a government body charged with promoting investment in the private sector, warned the brand representatives not to inadvertently promote further negative press by talking about the meeting. “Although you have expressed your concerns [today]…more positively, I think, let’s give it back to you, the owners of this forum, to say no—you came to discuss and to engage the government,” he said. Mr. Chhon used his closing speech to encourage the clothing brands and government to speak more openly and effectively with the media to ameliorate any further negative coverage of their endeavors. …
Alex Willemyns And Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-criticizes-media-coverage-of-strike-violence-52979/
