PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — The American-owned Phnom Penh Post, praised by foreign correspondents and diplomats as the best newspaper in Cambodia, is angrily pleading with The Washington Post, The New York Times and Dow Jones not to push it into bankruptcy.

The English-language publication has already gotten US Congressman Dana Rohrbacher to force the National Endowment for Democracy to stop giving thousands of dollars in grants to the Phnom Penh Post's main competition, The Cambodia Daily.

The outspoken newspaper is also seeking 220,000 US dollars from various governments and foundations so it can continue to publish, after last year's bloody tank battles in the capital devastated Cambodia's economy and obliterated the paper's income.

Michael Hayes owns and publishes the twice-monthly Phnom Penh Post, alongside his wife, Kathleen, who is managing director. Their struggle to publish, and not perish, is now at crisis point.

Hayes said he came to Cambodia looking for work in 1991 and "talked myself into" becoming a newspaper publisher.

"I spent my own money, about 45,000 US dollars, to start the paper in 1992," Hayes said in an interview.

"We get no outside funding, because I didn't want to compromise my independence. We have been operating the black since issue number six, in September 1992.

"We have had a few cases of journalists being mildly threatened. Nate Thayer says he was aware of death threats when he lived here for two years."

Thayer, who reports for the Post and also for Hong Kong-based Far Eastern Economic Review magazine, achieved international fame for interviewing Khmer Rouge guerrilla leader Pol Pot last year.

The death threats resulted from reports Thayer wrote for the Post and the Review, focusing on an alleged international narcotics smuggler who resides in Cambodia.

The Phnom Penh Post also faced possible court action when Cambodia's two prime ministers, Hun Sen and Norodom Ranariddh, complained about a story which suggested a lack of government leadership.

"I was accused of creating political instability and spreading disinformation," Hayes said.

"There was some confusion here about who was in charge of the government, there were some troop movements around town, and the article was about the levels of mistrust within the CPP," he said, referring to Hun Sen's powerful Cambodian Peoples Party. The case never went to trial.

But when rival troops loyal to Hun Sen and Ranariddh battled in July -- leaving at least 40 people dead and resulting in Ranariddh's ouster -- Washington cut aid to Cambodia and many foreign investors fled.

Advertising revenue crashed, along with subscriptions, and The Phnom Penh Post suddenly plunged into the red.

The newspaper still exposes atrocities, political infighting, and other investigative news, despite its mounting financial difficulties which continue unabated because of Cambodia's ongoing civil war.

"It is the first independent newspaper, in any language, since 1975," Hayes added.

That was the year Pol Pot seized power by toppling US-backed President Lon Nol.

Pol Pot launched the country into a nightmarish, back-to-the-jungle social experiment which ended when Vietnam invaded in December 1978.

Hayes was born on July 18, 1951 in Newton, Massachusetts, and is registered to vote in San Francisco, California.

He had no media experience before setting up The Phnom Penh Post.

"I was a paper boy in East Falmuth, Massachusetts," he said, recalling his qualifications.

"I lived in Washington DC for five years where I worked for the Peace Corps, in the Asia Bureau, from 1978 to 1979.

"I spent three years promoting the establishment of the US Institute of Peace in 1979 to 1981.

"The other most recent work I had was at the Asia Foundation in San Francisco and Bangkok, from 1984 to 1991."

The Phnom Penh Post concentrates only on Cambodia's news.

But it is now also battling several media giants back in America, which Hayes insisted are helping to bankrupt his paper.

The US-based news organizations are providing reports to a feisty rival paper in Cambodia, for free.

"My biggest competition is The Cambodia Daily. It is extremely frustrating, because it is set up as an NGO (non-government organization), and its purpose is to assist the media in Cambodia, but it is putting me out of business.

"They receive all these donations which undercut costs, and are lowering the advertising rates. They undercut the market here. They are set up as an NGO, but they behave as a business.

"So people who are donating free wire service news to them, like The Washington Post, are helping to put me out of business," Hayes said.

"The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Dow Jones are unwittingly making it impossible for me to run a business.

"Dow Jones is the most outrageous. Dow Jones lauds the free market as if it is God, and is giving away its news service for free, but it is damaging a business launched by an American entrepreneur. It is hypocritical.

"I have complained directly to Dow Jones, but got no response. I complained to The New York Times. No response. I plan to contact The Washington Post."

The smaller Cambodia Daily is published by a Tokyo-based American, Bernard Krisher.

Krisher earlier published a fascinating book of King Norodom Sihanouk's confessions about the monarch's royal -- and sometimes scandalous -- relations with other world leaders.

Krisher's daughter, Debbie, is currently trying to set up Radio Free Asia in Cambodia.

The masthead of The Cambodia Daily describes it as "an independent newspaper established through the support of Japan Relief for Cambodia and American Assistance for Cambodia."

The masthead adds, "The following organizations provide their news free of charge: The Washington Post-Los Angeles Times News Service, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, The New York Times, Kyodo News Service and Dow Jones News Service."

Hayes argued, "If that paper wants to carry that stuff, they should pay for it. Or stop taking ads, and do whatever they want on handouts."

When Hayes discovered The Cambodia Daily also received 40,000 US dollars from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), he went ballistic.

"It is US taxpayers' money. The will of the US Congress is not to support NGOs to put American businesses out of business.

"I complained to the NED, and they said they would review it. Nothing happened. I went directly to Congress in 1993. They said, 'Cancel the grant now'.

"It was Dana Rohrbacher's office who called the NED and complained," Hayes added, praising the congressman.

Asked what Hayes will stress in future complaints to The Washington Post and other publications, he replied, "I will just point out this is a very fragile media environment. I have no problem with competition. I just want a level playing field.

"My guess is they are just clueless on what is going on here and about the media environment here. The Cambodia Daily has already prevented me from going weekly," he added, explaining that there are not enough advertisers left in Cambodia for his own paper to survive for much longer, as a result of the nation's downturn.

"I don't want to disparage the reporters at The Daily. It is the economic foundations on which that paper is run, which I object to."

As a result of the paper war, Hayes is also preparing for doomsday -- selling The Phnom Penh Post and leaving town.

"A minimum would be several hundred thousand dollars. I have already talked to people in a variety of circles," he said, declining to elaborate. "No offers yet."

Gazing around the paper's offices, ensconced in a large house near the king's palace, Hayes said, "The only assets are the masthead and the staff. We have no printing press. The computers are already five years old.

"We write about politics, development news, economics, features, culture, lifestyles, personalities, history, labor issues -- you name it.

"There is a long-term market here for English language papers, assuming they sort out some of the political problems" in the crippled government.

"The press is freer in Cambodia than in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, Burma or China."

Hayes, meanwhile, is appealing for donations.

"I am asking for 220,000 US dollars. I have sent proposals to the Dutch, Canadian, Australian and British governments, to The Media Development Loan Fund in Prague, which is funded by George Soros, and an organization called Novid, which is a Dutch foundation run by Conrad Audenhauer.

"Freedom Forum already said no. The Dutch government already said they are interested, but they said they wanted to see someone donate first."

Others are considering his proposal.

Testimonials from foreign correspondents, diplomats and others are meanwhile pouring in, endorsing the paper.

Jeremy J. Stone of the Washington-based Federation of American Scientists (FAS) wrote, "I purchased two back years of The Phnom Penh Post and used them, with great effect, to prepare my own FAS Public Interest Report of September/October, "Post-Coup Cambodia: Relaxation or Further Repression?"

London-based Amnesty International wrote, "No other newspaper in Cambodia compares to The Phnom Penh Post in terms of human rights reporting."

Australia's Ambassador to Cambodia from 1994 to 1997, Tony Kevin, wrote, "It is an essential source of political information for diplomats, UN agency workers, and scholars."

Newsweek's Bangkok-based Southeast Asia Correspondent Ron Moreau agreed and wrote, "The Post also runs its share of scoops; it has broken stories on the political, military and economic fronts, on drug trafficking and counterfeiting as well as carrying exclusive interviews with government, military and guerrilla leaders."

Despite the gloom, the paper is currently constructing a website to also offer its text, photographs and subscriptions via Internet.

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Richard S. Ehrlich has a Master's Degree in Journalism from Columbia University, and is the co-author of the classic book of epistolary history, "HELLO MY BIG BIG HONEY!" -- Love Letters to Bangkok Bar Girls and Their Revealing Interviews.

His web page is located at http://www.oocities.org/asia_correspondent and he may be reached by email: animists *at* yahoo dot com