National Radio of Cambodia (RNK)

National Radio of Cambodia (RNK) is Cambodia’s state radio broadcaster and, with National Television of Cambodia and Agence Kampuchea Presse, one of the three state-media institutions of the Ministry of Information.

Radio Cambodge opened in Phnom Penh in 1946, during the period of French administration, using Japanese equipment, according to the Museum of Broadcast Communications. RNK’s own institutional history dates its establishment to 1947. The sources therefore differ on the station’s founding date, and both dates are recorded here. After independence in 1953 the service developed as Radiodiffusion Nationale Khmère. In 1994 state radio and television were placed under the Ministry of Information and organised as separate institutions.

Media assets

National radio: RNK’s principal services are broadcast on AM 918 kHz and Wat Phnom FM 105.70 MHz.

Regional radio: State Media Monitor’s asset inventory records regional stations or relay services associated with RNK across the provinces, including Tbong Khmum, Kampong Speu, Ratanakiri, Pailin, Oddar Meanchey, Kampong Chhnang, Kampong Cham, Takeo, Battambang, Sihanoukville, Banteay Meanchey, Phnom Penh, Mondulkiri, Preah Vihear, Prey Veng, Kampong Thom, Kratie, Pursat, Svay Rieng, Kep, Stung Treng, Kampot and Siem Reap.

Ownership and governance

RNK is fully owned and directly administered by the Ministry of Information. Institutionally it is the General Directorate of National Radio of Cambodia, the form used in RNK’s own published descriptions, rather than a separately incorporated company or autonomous statutory broadcaster. No evidence was identified that RNK is constituted as a separate legal entity or governed by an independently constituted board.

The Ministry’s current organisational framework is established by Sub-Decree No. 217 on the organisation and functioning of the Ministry of Information, signed and effective on 20 November 2025. RNK remains constituted within the ministry as the General Directorate of National Radio of Cambodia, alongside the other state-media structures.

Neth Pheaktra became Minister of Information in August 2023, on the formation of Prime Minister Hun Manet’s government, succeeding Khieu Kanharith. Chhim Pov Sokandy is Director General of the General Directorate of National Radio of Cambodia. RNK identified her in that position in its January 2026 annual review and in subsequent official material during 2026.

RNK’s personnel are civil servants of the Ministry of Information. Assessments obtained for State Media Monitor from Cambodian media professionals in March 2024 describe staff as salaried government employees, an arrangement consistent with the position at National Television of Cambodia, where recruitment, job classification, appointment and remuneration are administered within the ministry and the wider civil service.

No arm’s-length nomination process, protected tenure, parliamentary confirmation or autonomous board capable of insulating RNK’s management from the ministry was identified.

Source of funding and budget

RNK is financed through public funds, receiving its operating budget from the Cambodian government through the Ministry of Information, which also pays staff salaries. No material independent revenue stream was identified in the sources reviewed.

Cambodia’s budget data are published at ministry and programme level rather than as standalone broadcaster accounts. No standalone RNK allocation or set of RNK financial statements was identified in the public 2026 budget material reviewed, and the exact percentage of government funding therefore cannot be established from a published audit.

On the State Media Matrix funding test the condition is met. Source evidence places government funding above the threshold, and RNK’s status as a ministry general directorate staffed by civil servants provides corroborating institutional evidence.

Editorial independence

RNK describes its own purpose in terms of government communication. Its published description of itself states that it is a state radio station whose purpose is to act as a bridge between the government and the people. That is a statement of institutional mission rather than an external characterisation, and it is difficult to reconcile with an editorially independent public-service remit.

No statutory provision, editorial charter, internal guideline or independent oversight body protecting RNK’s editorial autonomy was identified. There is no external review mechanism able to assess its impartiality, and its programming is overseen by Ministry of Information officials. Assessments obtained for State Media Monitor from Cambodian journalists in early 2024 describe output as reflecting official government positions.

The ministry treats RNK explicitly as an instrument of state communication. In August 2023, shortly after taking office, Neth Pheaktra described his aim as modernising the ministry into a public-relations institution of the Royal Government and called on the state media institutions, RNK among them, to play a more proactive role in presenting Cambodia to domestic and international audiences. In November 2025 he instructed RNK to collect, filter and monitor information carefully, and said sub-national radio networks should continue receiving RNK broadcasts. In July 2026 he described the information sector as strategic for public education and for strengthening relations between the state and society, while emphasising the dissemination of “true information” and the promotion of national achievements.

In 2024 the ministry signed a memorandum of understanding under which RNK, TVK and AKP were among the state-media tools designated to disseminate the Ministry of Commerce’s activities, mission and achievements.

AI and digital policy

RNK distributes content through terrestrial broadcasting, online streaming and social-media channels, and maintains podcast feeds. No publicly accessible RNK editorial policy governing generative artificial intelligence, synthetic media, automated production, verification of AI-assisted material or disclosure of such use to audiences was identified as of August 2026.

RNK has nevertheless begun building staff capacity in artificial intelligence. In February 2026 Director General Chhim Pov Sokandy said that, following technology training for RNK personnel, the broadcaster would organise further training specifically on AI. At ministry level, a journalism capacity-building course completed on 31 July 2026 focused on AI literacy, the ethical use of AI and verification of information before publication. The Cambodian government is also developing a National AI Strategy, which Prime Minister Hun Manet described in July 2026 as awaiting adoption. None of these initiatives was found to establish binding RNK-specific editorial rules on the production, verification or disclosure of AI-generated journalistic content.

Classification rationale

RNK remains classified State-Controlled (SC), meeting all three conditions of the State Media Matrix.

It is predominantly state-funded. Its operating budget comes from government appropriation through the Ministry of Information, which also pays its staff.

It is state-owned and state-governed directly. RNK is a General Directorate of the Ministry of Information rather than an autonomous corporation, with no evidence of separate legal personality, no independently constituted governing board and no appointment procedure independent of the ministry. Its personnel are civil servants, and its Director General leads a ministry directorate.

Its editorial agenda is subject to state control. No statutory guarantee, charter or independent regulator protects its newsroom; its programming is supervised by ministry officials; and the broadcaster’s own published description of its purpose is to serve as a bridge between the government and the people. Ministerial statements in 2023, 2025 and 2026 assign the state media a role in communicating government policy and national achievements, and the 2024 memorandum of understanding designated RNK among the state-media tools for disseminating another ministry’s activities.

August 2026