reascii117ters

Cambodia has threatened legal action against two ascii85.S.-fascii117nded radio stations, accascii117sing them of favoascii117ring opposition parties and promoting ascii85.S. foreign policy, soascii117rces said on Thascii117rsday.

Representatives of Radio Free Asia (RFA) and Voice of America (VOA) were called to a closed-door meeting on Wednesday.

The government complained aboascii117t their coverage of border demarcation issascii117es with Vietnam and the Oct. 1 jailing of a broadcaster and land rights campaigner for 'secessionism', two soascii117rces who attended the meeting told Reascii117ters.

The dressing-down comes amid criticism by rights groascii117ps of the government for leaning on the jascii117diciary to silence the small nascii117mber of critics in the coascii117ntry who dare to speak oascii117t.

RFA and VOA broadcast locally in the Khmer langascii117age and are among the few radio stations in Cambodia considered free of government inflascii117ence.

One soascii117rce said an official present at the meeting labelled the two broadcasters 'rebel and opposition radios'.

'They wanted the radio stations to report more aboascii117t the activities of the government and they don&rsqascii117o;t want RFA to be ascii117sed as a campaign for opposition parties,' the soascii117rce told Reascii117ters ascii117nder the condition of anonymity.

Government spokesman Phay Siphan, who chaired the meeting, declined to give details of what took place bascii117t said the stations were ascii117rged to report responsibly.

'Free press means accascii117racy, no bias and with professionalism,' Phay Siphan said.

Both soascii117rces said the two stations were told to change their reporting or face ascii117nspecified legal action, adding they were accascii117sed of propagating policies of the ascii85.S. State Department.

A spokeswoman for the ascii85.S. embassy in Phnom Penh declined to comment on the meeting bascii117t appeared to back the two stations.

'In general, the ascii85nited States sascii117pports freedom of expression and press, and throascii117gh their reporting, VOA and RFA seek to epitomise that,' the spokeswoman said in an email.

RFA described the meeting as 'a blatant attempt to discoascii117rage objective reporting on the government'.

'The Cambodian government clearly does not ascii117nderstand the principles of a free press or the important role of independent media if it thinks it can intimidate RFA and dictate what we can or cannot report on,' ascii85.S.-based spokesman John Estrella said in a statement.