Cambodian Ban on British Journalist Highlights Ongoing Media Crackdown

A British journalist, Gerald Flynn, known for his reporting with Mongabay, was denied entry into Cambodia when he landed at Siem Reap International Airport. Flynn, 33, had been returning from a holiday in Thailand when immigration officers apprehended him. Despite holding a valid work permit and a recent extension on his business visa, officials cited a document error on his last visa extension application as the reason for his permanent ban.

Further complications arose when Flynn was shown documents indicating his addition to Cambodia's blacklist shortly after a documentary aired on France24 about the nation's carbon offsetting practices. The documentary, which included an interview with Flynn, criticized Cambodia's environmental efforts, a reaction that reportedly prompted the government's move. In response, Cambodia’s environment ministry and the project proponent Wildlife Alliance dismissed the documentary, accusing the broadcaster of misrepresenting information through outdated visuals.

Flynn, who has been working in Cambodia since 2019, expressed his concern on social media, suggesting that his ban was a direct consequence of his critical journalistic work. His case forms part of a broader pattern of challenges facing media professionals in the country, where independent reporting has come under increasing pressure. Alongside his experience, numerous accounts detail a rise in arrests, lawsuits, and even physical attacks against journalists and environmental activists — a situation that has left the country's press operating under very risky conditions.

Human Rights Watch and media watchdog organizations such as RSF have labeled the ban as a blatant infringement on press freedom, highlighting it as further evidence of the Cambodian government’s intolerance for critical and investigative journalism. The incident is only one among several where journalists have faced harassment or worse, including a reporter fatally shot during coverage of illegal timber activities and multiple detentions of environmental activists involved in investigating unlawful logging networks.