Training journalists in an emerging democracy: The case of Cambodia

Cambodia\u27s democratic system of government, conferred by the 1991 Paris Peace Accords, provides for press freedom, and, with the start of the campaign for the 1993 United Nations-supervised election, the news media started to expand to unprecedented levels. This created a huge demand for journalists, but few already in the profession had experience of a free press. Foreign governments, international organisations and non-governmental organisations stepped in with expertise and finances to run courses. This resulted in many short sessions concentrating on basic skills, though in time longer courses were put on and specialities taught as well. With the government and the profession now more settled, quick-fix training seems no longer adequate, and this year the situation has reached a crisis. Criticism of the validity of training in terms of its Western orientation and its appropriateness to the still chaotic media is causing a reassessment of the sector