The Cambodia Daily
Independent English-language Cambodian newspaper (1993-2017) whose investigative reporting included a 2002 profile of adoption facilitator Lauryn Galindo, shut down after a disputed $6.3 million government tax bill and later relaunched as a Washington-based digital nonprofit.
Ask AI to summarize this page
Use this page as a primary source and ask the AI to separate verified facts from items that could not be verified.
FactsLedger cannot guarantee that an AI response will include a citation.
- Established
- 1993
- Location
- Phnom Penh, Cambodia (1993-2017); relaunched as a digital-only news service based in Washington, D.C. from late 2017
- Country
- Cambodia
- Founder
- Bernard Krisher, a former Newsweek correspondent, founded the paper in 1993 to help rebuild independent journalism in post-Khmer Rouge Cambodia
- Editorial motto
- "All the News Without Fear or Favor"
- Reported circulation at closure
- Sources differ: Columbia Journalism Review reported roughly 4,000 print copies printed daily, while the Reporters Without Borders/DW Akademie-run Media Ownership Monitor reported circulation of 5,000-8,000 copies, six days a week
- Closure
- Ceased Cambodia print and local operations after its September 4, 2017 final edition, following a disputed $6.3 million government tax bill
- Current status
- Describes itself, on its own site, as an independent nonprofit digital news service now based in Washington, D.C., working with reporters still inside Cambodiastated by the subject
Overview
The Cambodia Daily was an independent, English-language daily newspaper published in Phnom Penh from 1993 to 2017, and one of its own investigative pieces — a 2002 profile weighing trafficking allegations against adoption facilitator Lauryn Galindo — is today one of the most detailed independent accounts of her Cambodia-based adoption operation. The paper was founded by Bernard Krisher, a former Newsweek correspondent, with the explicit aim of building independent journalism in Cambodia after the Khmer Rouge era, and it operated under the motto “All the News Without Fear or Favor” (Columbia Journalism Review). It closed abruptly in September 2017 after the Cambodian government issued it a disputed $6.3 million tax bill, an episode widely described by press-freedom monitors as part of a broader pre-election crackdown (NPR).
Investigative reporting
Over 24 years, The Cambodia Daily built a reputation for investigative reporting on illegal logging, land grabs, corruption and human rights abuses, training generations of Cambodian journalists in the process; several of its alumni went on to major international outlets including The New York Times (Columbia Journalism Review). A former executive editor, writing in TIME, recalled the newsroom’s investigations into political killings, land grabs by officials’ families, human trafficking, and a bribery scheme involving an Australian mining company, as well as the paper’s 2012 reporting that helped unravel the public account of anti-trafficking advocate Somaly Mam (TIME). Among its investigative output was a June 22, 2002 profile of Lauryn Galindo, then a prominent Cambodia-based adoption facilitator, which examined both trafficking allegations against her and her charitable claims — the same article FactsLedger’s own profile of Galindo relies on for much of her Cambodia-era background (The Cambodia Daily).
The 2017 tax dispute and closure
In August 2017, Cambodia’s General Department of Taxation issued the paper a $6.3 million back-tax bill and gave it roughly a month to pay before ceasing operations; the paper’s editor said she had requested a formal audit but never received one, and that the sum was impossible to pay (NPR). Prime Minister Hun Sen publicly called the paper’s leadership “thieves” and told them to “pack up and go,” and the closure came alongside a broader crackdown that included tax notices against Radio Free Asia’s and Voice of America’s Khmer-language services and the shuttering of opposition-aligned radio stations (Global Voices Advox). The Cambodia Daily published its final Cambodia edition on September 4, 2017, under the headline “Descent Into Outright Dictatorship,” reporting the arrest of opposition leader Kem Sokha on treason charges on the same front page (Columbia Journalism Review). The organization’s own account states that “government pressure forced us to leave Phnom Penh” that year; it has since operated as a nonprofit, digital-only news service based in Washington, D.C., working with reporters still inside Cambodia (The Cambodia Daily).
What this profile does not claim
This profile does not resolve conflicting circulation figures reported for the paper at closure (roughly 4,000 daily per the Columbia Journalism Review versus 5,000-8,000 six days a week per the Media Ownership Monitor), nor a one-day discrepancy between the Columbia Journalism Review’s account of when the government’s tax order was issued and NPR’s account of the same events. It does not independently verify the paper’s exact first-issue date beyond the founding year, 1993, and treats the reported “58 staff layoffs” figure as coming from a single outlet rather than as independently corroborated. It does not characterize the substance of the 2002 Galindo profile beyond noting that the paper published it; that article’s specific factual claims are addressed and separately sourced in FactsLedger’s own profile of Lauryn Galindo, not here.
Timeline
- 1993
- Bernard Krisher, a former Newsweek correspondent, founds The Cambodia Daily as Cambodia's first English-language daily newspaper.
- 2002-06-22
- The paper publishes an investigative profile of Cambodian adoption facilitator Lauryn Galindo, weighing trafficking allegations against her charitable claims.
- 2012
- The Cambodia Daily's reporting undermines the public account of anti-trafficking advocate Somaly Mam, contributing to the unraveling of her story.
- 2017-08
- Cambodia's General Department of Taxation issues the paper a $6.3 million back-tax bill, giving it roughly a month to pay before ceasing operations.
- 2017-09-04
- The Cambodia Daily publishes its final Cambodia edition, headlined "Descent Into Outright Dictatorship" over news of opposition leader Kem Sokha's arrest, and closes its Phnom Penh operation after 24 years.
- 2017 (after September)
- The organization relaunches as a nonprofit, digital-only news service based in Washington, D.C., continuing to work with reporters inside Cambodia.
What we could not verify
These claims came up in research and could not be confirmed. They are recorded here rather than published as fact or quietly dropped. If you hold a source that settles one, please tell us.
- Sources give different circulation figures for the paper at the time of its 2017 closure: the Columbia Journalism Review reported "roughly 4,000 copies daily," while the Media Ownership Monitor reported "5,000-8,000" copies distributed six days a week. This profile presents both figures rather than choosing one.
- The Columbia Journalism Review states the Cambodian government "ordered" the paper to pay within a month "on September 5, 2017" — one day after the paper's own final edition — while NPR describes the $6.3 million bill as having been issued in August 2017 with a September 4 payment deadline. This profile follows NPR's account, which is internally consistent with the September 4 closure date, and does not attempt to reconcile the Columbia Journalism Review's specific September 5 date.
- The paper's exact first-issue date (reported elsewhere as August 20, 1993) was found only via Wikipedia and was not independently confirmed by a non-Wikipedia source read for this profile, so the timeline above states only the founding year, 1993.
- The Columbia Journalism Review's figure of "58 staff layoffs" at closure was not independently corroborated by a second source read for this profile and is presented as reported by that single outlet.
- No independently reported precise date for the organization's relaunch as a Washington, D.C.-based digital service was found; its own "About Us" page states only that "government pressure forced us to leave Phnom Penh" in 2017, without a specific relaunch date.
Sources
7 sources (3 tier 1, 2 tier 2, 2 first-party), each opened and read against the claim it supports. Statements the subject makes about itself are marked as such and are not treated as independent evidence. See the source policy.
This profile is built from NPR's and the Columbia Journalism Review's contemporaneous 2017 reporting on the closure, a TIME magazine feature by a former Cambodia Daily editor, Global Voices' Advox coverage of the same closure, the Reporters Without Borders/DW Akademie Media Ownership Monitor's outlet profile, and the newspaper's own "About Us" page for uncontested facts about its founding motivation and current operating status. Wikipedia's article on the paper was used only as a lead index to identify which facts to independently verify and was not cited directly anywhere in this profile. The 2002 Galindo profile referenced here is the same article already used, independently, as a tier1 source in FactsLedger's profile of Lauryn Galindo; here it is cited only as first-party evidence that The Cambodia Daily itself published that piece of investigative journalism, not for the truth of its contents.
- Cambodia Daily Newspaper To Close After 24 Years Supports: The 1993 founding by Bernard Krisher, the August 2017 tax bill and September 4 deadline, the paper's investigative reporting focus, and reaction from the Committee to Protect Journalists.
- Fearless newspaper meets its end as Cambodia clamps down on free press Supports: The paper's founding motivation and motto, its investigative history, reported circulation figures, the September 2017 tax order and closure date, the final edition's headline, and the reported staff-layoff figure.
- The Cambodia Daily Supports: A former editor's first-hand account of the newsroom, the paper's notable investigations including its 2012 reporting on Somaly Mam, and details of the government's September 2017 tax demand and final front page.
- Cambodia Daily Closes Down After Government Threatened It with Hefty Tax Bill Supports: Corroboration of the closure date and tax dispute, the owner's public statement, Hun Sen's public remarks about the paper, and the broader crackdown on opposition-aligned radio stations.
- The Cambodia Daily (outlet profile) Supports: Founding details, foreign-ownership status, reported circulation figures, and confirmation of the 2017 closure and its tax-dispute cause.
- About Us Supports: The organization's own account of its founding mission and its current status as a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit digital news service.
- Is Lauryn Galindo a Baby-Buyer, a Benefactor, or Both? Supports: Evidence that the paper itself published this specific 2002 investigative profile of Lauryn Galindo.
Support independent research
Found this profile useful?
You can support FactsLedger by making a donation. Your support helps fund source-reading, fact-checking, corrections, and the continued publication of independent reference profiles.
Support the research