Blue Media Films (Cambodia) and Beijing-based Caixin Media jointly launched the Caixin Academy of Journalism (CAJ) in Phnom Penh on Monday, aiming at providing training courses to financial journalists.
Deborah Price, a representative of Caixin Media, said the CAJ was a new initiative that would provide training on best practices in financial and data journalism, and provide a space for cutting-edge collaboration in digital and new media.
The new initiative will "strengthen the journalistic ties between China and the emerging economies in Southeast Asia, and build valuable connections between journalists and media practitioners across Asian borders," she said during the launching ceremony.
Cambodian Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said that the government supported the initiative, adding that it was crucial to build capacity for Cambodian financial journalists.
According to the minister, currently, Cambodia has almost 20 television channels, more than 100 radio stations, and over 600 print media outlets.
Khek Khemrath, managing director of the Blue Media, said that under the initiative, some 15 Cambodian outstanding journalists and a number of journalists from the region would be given a free training course each year.
At the end of the launching ceremony, the two media outlets also organized a roundtable discussion focusing on the role of media and financial journalists in the context of Cambodia's economic growth.
The discussion was attended by Minister Khieu Kanharith and Sok Chenda Sophea, secretary general of the Council for the Development of Cambodia.
