Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

The Independent's journalism is supported by our readers. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn commission.

Bernard Krisher: American journalist who founded Cambodia’s first English-language daily

His paper became the standard-bearer for the country’s post-war aspirations

James Williams
Sunday 14 April 2019 17:57 BST
Comments
Krisher, who described himself as an aggressive New Yorker, used the force of his personality to improve the lives of many
Krisher, who described himself as an aggressive New Yorker, used the force of his personality to improve the lives of many

Journalist, publisher and humanitarian Bernard Krisher was the a German-born American whose accolades include starting the first daily English language newspaper in Cambodia. Based in Japan for much of his life, it is for his contribution to journalism and philanthropy in Cambodia that he was best known.

Described by some former colleagues as tenacious and by others as pushy and irascible, Krisher was, by his own admission, an aggressive New Yorker who used the force of his personality to improve the lives of many, while simultaneously holding the feet of powerful figures to the fire.

He was born into a Jewish family, in 1931, in his maternal grandparents’ hometown of Frankfurt. In the wake of Hitler’s rise to power, the Krisher family fled Nazi Germany, spending time in France and Portugal before they eventually settled in the US, arriving into Ellis Island aboard the famous Portuguese “ship of destiny”, the Serpa Pinto.

Growing up in Queens, New York City, Krisher finally found the stability to explore his growing passion for the printed word. It was here that, at the age of 12, Krisher published his first magazine – Pocket Mirror – which circulated celebrity interviews to local teenagers. He would go on to edit both his high school and college newspapers, working for the New York Herald Tribune while he was still at college. After a spell in the US army, Krisher returned home in 1955 and rose through the ranks at the New York World-Telegram & Sun.

In 1962, Krisher relocated to Japan to join Newsweek’s Tokyo bureau. In 1967 he wa appointed head until his departure in 1980. It was during this time that Krisher conducted the first ever one-on-one interview with a Japan’s emperor Hirahito.

His interest in Cambodia was sparked by trip to Indonesia in 1963 where he met he was visiting Indonesia, he met Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia who invited him to visit the country.

“In November 1971,” Krisher’s daughter Deborah Krisher-Steele has said, “my father took me to Cambodia and he was so shocked to see the country devastated after the war, there was no medical care, no infrastructure, and people were cluttered in small houses together. Bernie, 61 at that time, said he’s going to help Cambodia as a way to give back to strangers, because he was a little boy born in Germany as a Jew and when he had to flee, strangers helped him on the way in France and Portugal.”

By the early Nineties, Cambodia was, under the aegis of the UN, emerging from decades of war, civil war and dictatorship.

The spirit of hope and aspiration that followed the signing of the 1991 Paris peace agreements, marking the end of conflict between Cambodia and Vietnam, would provide the impetus for the final and perhaps most important chapter of Krisher’s life. In 1993 – as Cambodia held its first free elections – inspired by the works of the Alsatian medical missionary Albert Schweitzer, Krisher launched his two most ambitious ventures to date.

Journalist Len Leng holding the final issue of the Cambodia Daily in September 2017

First, Krisher founded the non-profit American Assistance for Cambodia (now called World Assistance for Cambodia), which has built more than 560 schools in rural areas and the free Sihanouk Hospital Centre of Home in the capital Phnom Penh, as well as running orphanages and educational programmes for girls.

Shortly afterwards, Krisher launched The Cambodia Daily – an English-language newspaper published under a banner of “all the news without fear or favour”.

The paper was a rival to The Phnom Penh Post, which was launched a year earlier and published every two weeks – the Post became a daily years later.

The Cambodia Daily became a standard-bearer for the aspirations of post-war Cambodia, and has acted as a training ground for both Cambodian and western journalists, with one alumnus going on to win the Pulitzer Prize.

Krisher ran the paper himself until 2016, when ill health persuaded him to pass control to his daughter. Its print edition was forced to cease publication in 2017, after the Hun Sen government presented the paper with a crippling and fiercely disputed tax bill – Cambodia’s prime minister, a former Khmer Rouge commandar, has been in power for 34 years. The Cambodia Daily’s last front-page headline – printed shortly after the leader of the opposition, Kem Sokha, was imprisoned and charged with treason – bluntly warned of a “descent into outright dictatorship”. The paper continues to be published online from a base outside Cambodia.

Krisher’s activities and influence during his final decades extended across east and southeast Asia. In 1994, his efforts to supply food and medical supplies to flood-stricken North Koreans precipitated a heart attack, after he insisted on carrying heavy bags of rice himself. In 1998, the former dissident and political prisoner Kim Dae-jung granted Krisher his first interview upon becoming president of South Korea, by way of thanks for Krisher’s earlier vocal support.

Krisher is survived by his wife of 58 years, Akiko, his daughter Debbie, son Joseph, and two grandsons.

Bernard Krisher, journalist and philanthropist, born 9 August 1931, died 5 March 2019

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in