Election Reporting Banned

[geovalin]

 

The Information Ministry has banned journalists from publishing any information about the results of the next elections before the ministry does to avoid what they claim would cause “confusion to the public.” Information Minister Khieu Kanharith told a seminar on Tuesday that the ministry was ordering news outlets to “stay quiet” during voting because any reporting signaling either side was in the lead would have an effect on subsequent voter turnout.
 

“In short, please be quiet. They can report anything after the election finishes. This is to make people work calmly,” he said. Commune elections will be held on June 4, 2017, and the national election will be in July 2018.
 

The government tried something similar in 2013 when it banned all foreign radio stations from broadcasting for a month before the national election and threatened legal action against any outlets that disobeyed the order. National Election Committee (NEC) officials and government ministers defended the decision, claiming the foreign press was “uneven” and not “neutral.”

 

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