Khmer Times

Khmer Times is Cambodia’s principal English-language daily newspaper, published in Phnom Penh in print and online. The newspaper marked twelve years of publication in May 2026 and describes itself as Cambodia’s only English-language newspaper — a position reflecting the contraction of the sector after The Cambodia Daily was closed in 2017 over a disputed tax bill and The Phnom Penh Post was sold to a Malaysian investor in 2018.

Media assets

Publishing: Khmer Times

Ownership and governance

Khmer Times is owned and published by Virtus Media Pte., Ltd., according to the newspaper’s own statement. No state shareholding was identified.

Reporters Without Border records the newspaper as owned by the Malaysian national T. Mohan, also rendered Mohan Tirugmanasam Bandam, together with one of his daughters, Ashwini Rajkumari Mohan. Reporting by Asia Times in 2020 stated that Ministry of Commerce records listed two directors of Virtus Media: Mohan and the businessman Wong Tow Fock, whom that report believed but could not confirm to be the same Wong Tow Fock who has chaired Cambodia Asia Bank since 1996.

Mohan’s involvement in Cambodian media predates Khmer Times by two decades. He managed the Cambodia Times from 1993 to 1995 and Cambodia Today from 1995 to 1996, founded the monthly Cambodian Business Review in 1998, and helped establish the League of Cambodian Journalists. He is the sole representative in Cambodia for the Malaysian company BlueMac Resources, holding 20% of the BlueMac group, and manages the Virtus Green Plantations.

Two episodes in his record are documented. In September 2000 he was arrested over an allegation that he attempted to extort US$5,000 from the vice-president of what was then Naga Casino in Phnom Penh; he was released after three days and has maintained his innocence. In 2015 he was the subject of a Cambodia Daily report concerning land concessions, which he rejected in Khmer Times.

Mohan is both publisher and Group Managing Editor, a combination that places proprietorial and senior editorial authority in the same person. No independent board, editorial committee or separation between ownership and editorial leadership was identified.

Source of funding and budget

The owner has publicly stated that the newspaper is sustained commercially, principally through advertising. Khmer Times publishes no financial statements, and no audited breakdown of its revenue was identified.

The most substantial allegation to the contrary concerns a reported connection between the newspaper, the casino operator NagaCorp and Hun Manith, a son of Hun Sen. The claim originated in a batch of partially authenticated leaked messages first reported by The Cambodia Daily. Mohan strongly denied the leaks’ veracity and threatened legal action; Hun Manith and the NagaCorp executive named declined to comment. The Cambodia Daily was forcibly closed a few months later after the government presented it with a US$6 million tax demand it could not pay, so the allegations were never tested by that publication.

State Media Monitor’s earlier research recorded assessments from media observers and Cambodian journalists suggesting the newspaper may have received indirect financial support connected to the owner’s proximity to government circles.

Under the State Media Matrix, the Captured Private model applies whether or not predominant state funding is present, so this evidential position does not affect the classification.

Editorial independence

Khmer Times states that it aims to report news in an unbiased manner and from a neutral stance. Its editorial positioning is nevertheless widely assessed as aligned with the governing party: Wikipedia records its political alignment as pro-Cambodian People’s Party, and the International Federation of Journalists has documented its supportive posture within a broader account of Cambodia’s declining press freedom.

The publisher’s own account of the newspaper’s purpose is instructive. Marking its anniversary in May 2026, Mohan described his reaction to a foreign publication that had referred to Cambodia as “Scambodia” and said: “Our role is to tell the world the reality of Cambodia.” That is a statement of national representation rather than of editorial independence, though it falls short of the explicit government-communication mandates found at Cambodia’s state-owned outlets.

Accounts recorded in earlier State Media Monitor research indicate that critical coverage, particularly of powerful business interests or government policy, has been selectively edited or removed from the website.

No formal editorial statute, charter, ombudsman or mechanism for independent editorial oversight was identified in publicly accessible sources.

One countervailing consideration should be recorded. Khmer Times claims to have been among the first outlets internationally to report on the online scam industry operating from Cambodia, a subject touching powerful domestic interests. That claim is the newspaper’s own and was not independently assessed during this review, but if substantiated it would indicate reporting capacity beyond straightforward government alignment.

AI and digital policy

Khmer Times distributes content through its print edition, khmertimeskh.com, mobile applications and social-media channels. No publicly accessible editorial policy governing generative artificial intelligence, synthetic media, automated production, verification of AI-assisted material or the disclosure of AI-generated content to readers was identified.

Classification rationale

Khmer Times remains classified Captured Private (CaPr), the Matrix model for outlets subject to editorial control by entities linked to state authorities in the absence of state ownership or state-appointed governing bodies.

On ownership and governance, no state shareholding or state-appointed directors were identified. The newspaper is owned and published by a private company, Virtus Media, whose recorded directors are its Malaysian proprietor and a second businessman. This distinguishes it from Cambodia’s State-Controlled outlets, TVK, RNK and AKP, each a general directorate of the Ministry of Information staffed by civil servants.

On editorial control, the Matrix requires persistent and systemic control by entities linked to state authority rather than ordinary political alignment. The evidence here differs in character from the Hun family outlets. There is no proprietorial relationship to the governing family, and the principal allegation of a financial link to a presidential son rests on partially authenticated leaked messages that were denied and never tested in court. What is documented is a consistently pro-government editorial posture recorded by independent monitors; a proprietor with three decades of business and political relationships in Cambodia; the concentration of ownership and senior editorial authority in one individual; accounts of critical coverage being edited or removed; and the absence of any identified editorial safeguard.

On funding, no state subsidy was documented, and the newspaper operates commercially. The Captured Private model accommodates outlets with or without predominant state funding.

August 2026