Cambodia Daily Newspaper To Close (Gov't crackdown on free speech and dissent) NPR
http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/09/03/548296895/cambodia-daily-newspaper-to-close-after-24-years
One of Cambodia's major English-language newspapers will close this week because it is unable to pay what the government says it owes in back taxes.
In a statement released Sunday, The Cambodia Daily says "as a result of extra-legal threats by the government," the paper will stop publication on Monday, Sept. 4. That's the deadline the government gave the paper when it slapped it with a $6.3 million tax bill last month, accusing it of failing to pay that amount in taxes over the past decade. The fine came as a result of an investigation Prime Minister Hun Sen called for into private companies operating in Cambodia.
Last month, the government ordered the U.S.-funded National Democratic Institute to close and has also gone after Cambodian radio stations. The Khmer-language arms of Radio Free Asia and Voice of America have also been sent tax notices.
Human rights advocates have strongly rebuked Hun Sen's actions.
Steven Butler, the Asia program director for the Committee to Project Journalists, says what's happening in Cambodia is an example of a time of "depressed free expression" Southeast Asia is going through right now.
"I know it's absolutely true that press freedom has come under pressure in many countries," Butler says. He says the way China tightly controls its Internet and the press, as well as the way the United States is not speaking out in favor of speech right now, may be to blame.
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Yes, it COULD happen here - unless you are part of Sinclair Broadcasting.
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