New Players
Koh Santepheap Daily
The daily newspaper Koh Santepheap was founded in 1967 by Chou Thany (ជូ ថានី), a former teacher. At the time, Thong Uypang (ថុង អ៊ុយប៉ាង), one of his student, was appointed editor-in-chief. But the newspaper was suspended during the Khmer Rouge regime, when only state media were running. After almost 20 years of suspension, it was re-authorized in 1993 by the Ministry of Information [Reang & Moeun, 2006], which granted the license to Thong Uypang. It first published 3 issues per week and became daily again after 6 months of operation.
From 1993 to 2005, Thong Uypang was in charge of the newsroom and his wife, Yin Phanny (យីន ផាន្នី), of the management. Today, Uypang remains an influent person for the newsroom although he appointed Pol Saroeun (ប៉ុល សារឿន), a former primary school teacher who joined the newspaper in 1995, to replace him in 2005. The management of the newspaper was handed over to Uypang and Phanny daughter, Thong Sovanrangsi (ថុង សុវណ្ណរង្ស៊ី) who is now serving as the publisher. Her husband, Chea Garuda (ជា ហ្គារូដា), is now the general manager.
A Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) affiliated paper which has many reporters also working at the Interior Ministry, Koh Santepheap has become the most widely read paper in the country due to its scoops on crime stories – unsurprising as police work comes under the umbrella of the Interior Ministry. The paper typically has a lot of ‘gore’ on its front page, with photos depicting crime and accident scenes in graphic detail (KAS, 2009). However, Uypang claims that his newspaper is independent and neutral with no political tendency.
In 2013, Yin Piseth, the current deputy editor-in-chief of the newspaper, claimed that Koh Santepheap was not getting any support from the government or from NGOs. The main income of the newspapers comes from advertising and sale of the newspaper. According to CRMD, Koh Santepheap is the most popular daily newspaper in Cambodia.
Koh Santepheap TV or Koh TV has became the late branding of its company that it is using social media, Facebook and YouTube as the main channels to reach its audiences.
Audience Share
20%
Ownership Type
private
Geographic Coverage
National
Content Type
paid
Media Companies / Groups
Koh Santepheap Co., Ltd
Individual Owner
General Information
Founding Year
1967
Founder
Chou Thany - (ជូ ថានី) is a former teacher.
Contact
No. 240, Yothapol Khemarak Phoumin Blvd (St. 271), Anina Office & Apartment, 2nd Floor, Phnom Penh, Cambodia- (PHONE) 023 987 118 - (MAIL) info@kspg.com - (WEB) kohsantepheapdaily.com.kh
Financial Information
Revenue (in Mill. $)
Missing Data
Operating Profit (in Mill. $)
Missing Data
Advertising (in % of total funding)
Missing Data
Market Share
Missing Data
Further Information
Sources
Phone Interview with Thong Uypang, owner and founder of Koh Santepheap.
The Cambodian media landscape counts at least two new outlets, a TV and a newspaper. Since the former started its daily activity and the latter its broadcasting in 2015, MOM decided not to include as most relevant medium. With less than a year of existence, the audience shares would not be representative of their popularity.
It can be highlighted, however, that their growth is taking place rapidly and their strategy seems more aggressive than the existing media on the market. Both are now hiring journalists and newsroom staffs from existing newsrooms, heightening the competition on both TV and print sectors, which are already highly concentrated.