The media are under close watch and the government, led by Prime Minister Hun Sen for the past three decades, maintains good relations with the leading media owners. Government hostility towards independent media increased in 2016. Journalists can pay a high price for covering illegal logging or trafficking in fish or other natural resources. Defamation and damaging the country’s image are the most frequently used charges. Shortly after well-known political commentator Kem Ley’s murder in July 2016, the Phnom Penh Post, Cambodia Daily, and other media outlets were fiercely criticized by relatives of the Prime Minister and received anonymous threats.