President/Editor-inChief

ROGER SAMKHON PIN

Co-founder/Editor

Roger Samkhon Pin was born in Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia. He earned his Bachelor of Natural Science from Phnom Penh University in 1973 and left for Paris, France one month before the Khmer Rouge regime took over Cambodia in 1974. He is highly proficiency in Khmer, French, and English.

Pin returned to Cambodia in 1992 and established the Free Citizen News. In January 1994, he was the first elected President of the Khmer Journalist Association of Cambodia by the Cambodian media leaders across the country since the collapse of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979. In March 1994, Pin was the first to receive the financial supports from Asia Foundation from U.S. and from Australia for the creation of a journalism class at Phnom Penh University; legal support from the United Nations Human Rights Commission which advised the association regarding the laws for free press and provided a defense for the Cambodian journalists before the national assembly; also in 1994, Pin was an observing member of the Asian Journalist Federation, was a member of the International Federation of Journalist.

Pin and the Khmer Journalists Association launched the new spirit of the free press in Cambodia; in September 1995, Pin was a guest of the United States government for a one month visit as Cambodia’s media leader; in 1996 and 1997, Pin oversaw the creation of two journalist’s classes at the Phnom Penh University. At the same time under Pin’s leadership, the association became the top leader and advisor to the free press in Cambodia until the bloody coup d’état in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in July 1997; at the time, the Cambodian Co-Prime Minister, Hun Sen, who created a Coupe against his Co-Prime Minister, Norodom Ranaridh who at the same time put an end to the free press and forced Pin to flee Bangkok.

As a journalist and a publisher in Cambodia, Pin conducted his profession under life threatening situations. Pin always stood firmly demonstrating that he would not allow fear or personal pleasure get the best of him. It was because of the courage, the integrity, and the determination, Pin was popular and well respected among the journalist circle, both national and international, as well as in human rights community level.

In Thailand, Pin was assigned as a special correspondent for Radio Free Asia (RFA). In March 1998, Pin was appointed as the Director of the Cambodian Services for (RFA) in Washington D.C. The work experience in journalist profession provided Pin with the theoretical and practical application of specialize knowledge and managerial experience in dealing with people in many different nations. In 1998, Pin’s remarkable accomplishment in journalist work was highly recognized by Professor Ronald Miskoff from the Department of Journalism and Mass Media in the School of Communication, Information and Library Studies of Rutgers University. He had certified that Pin’s background, experiences, and credentials was highly respected and were equivalent to the Degree in Journalism or Communications.

Pin served at the RFA until March 2003. From 2004 – 2008, he established the first Cambodian-American radio broadcasting locally from Lowell, Massachusetts to Fresno, California.

In April 2008, Pin published the first Cambodian-American biweekly free newspaper, the KhmerPost USA, LLC, distributing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Camden and Pennsauken, New Jersey. Since August 2010, Pin has built a branch in Massachusetts to meet the increased demand of the readerships in the New England States.