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Phnom Penh 12 December 2023. Women are vastly underrepresented in news stories produced by Cambodian media, with an exclusively women presence found only in 5% of all stories. In comparison, the stories that feature only men, make half of all the news published and broadcasted in Cambodian media. This is one the key findings of UNESCO’s report “Who makes the Cambodian news?”, an assessment of women’s presence and portrayal in Cambodian news, which was launched by UNESCO on 12 December 2023 in Phnom Penh. 

The report highlights that from all the spokespersons quoted as information sources in the news, just 2% are women. When interviewing specialized informants on a given topic, only 7% of the experts quoted in the news were women, and even when sourcing a general commentary from the public through “Vox-pops”, women’s opinions and voices made up just 12% of the citizens interviewed.

The figures and conclusions presented in the report, evidence the profound roots of gender-biases that dominate the Cambodian media industry and news production processes, which is also a reflection of the social norms that hinder the advancement of women’s rights and gender equality. 

Guided by UNESCO’s global research framework “Gender-Sensitive Indicators for Media”, the study monitored and analyzed the 12 media houses with the widest outreach in Cambodia for a period of one month, and it included newspapers, TV, Radio and online news portals. The study intends to shed a light on the misrepresentation and underrepresentation of women in the news, and provide evidence to inform the necessary reforms and actions that media houses, authorities, development actors and the public could take to support the advancement of gender equality in and through the media. 

The report also has a dedicated a section to Gender Based Violence, and presents some concerning numbers: out of the 4,094 news stories monitored, only 49 addressed this topic (merely the 1%). And furthermore, in almost half of those news stories, the article presented personal information of the victims, invading their right to privacy. 

Her Excellency Bun Puthy, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Women Affairs, welcomed the findings of the report, and highlighted the very important role that journalists play in advancing women’s rights by amplifying their voices, by giving them the space in the news that they deserve. She also talked about the Code of Conduct for the media when reporting on Gender Based Violence, which is a joint effort of the Ministry of Women Affairs and the Ministry of Information, and provides concrete guidelines for media houses on how to improve their coverage of this issue.

Mr. Sardar Umar Alam, UNESCO Representative to Cambodia, highlighted that “we need to give gender equality and women’s empowerment a priority in and through media. Given the media’s impact in shaping our thoughts and influencing the societal structures and norms, we will continue to work closely with the media organizations and journalists to strengthen their understanding and capacity of gender-responsive reporting practices, to foster gender equality in media content and enhance media coverage of gender-related issues.”

At the launching of the report, which was held at the Media Diversity Forum, organized by UNESCO in Phnom Penh on 12 December, Ms. Kry Suyheang, Executive Director of Women Peace Makers, said that “the findings from this study reflects the deeply rooted gender inequality and power dynamics in Cambodian society. It, even subconsciously, reinforces the stereotypes that such public participation or influential roles or voices and experience of women and other genders from diverse identities are not valued enough to shape the public opinions. Diverse voices in Media sector is very indispensable to contribute to creating a more inclusive and informative pieces of information to help challenge stereotypes, promote equal participation and representation, and among other, foster a more gender equal and just world”.

This report is part of the project “Strengthening Media Development and Freedom of Expression in Cambodia”, which UNESCO is implementing with the financial support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). Camilla Ottoson, Minister & Head of Embassy of Sweden Section Office in Phnom Penh, at the launching of the report, stressed the importance of this report to foster more diversity of voices in the media. Ms Ottoson added that “mainstream media, the public discourse and debate, needs to be diverse and plural. This is a key element of any democratic society. Enabling a democratic discourse, a public debate where every person, regardless of their social and cultural background, and every opinion and point of view can be expressed, and shared”.

The summary of the report can be found in below. The full report will soon be available at UNESCO Cambodia website.