ABSTRACT
NGOs often play critical roles as 'norm entrepreneurs' in the process of promoting norm development. This chapter examines the NGO coalition's advocacy strategies in targeting the general public, particularly through the use of the media, and analyses how rules and norms influenced these strategies. It discusses the strategies adopted by both the Vietnam Rivers Network (VRN) and the Rivers Coalition in Cambodia (RCC). The RCC's activities in raising public awareness through the use of media were conducted in a way that built on the existing programmes of its members. Analysis of the Vietnamese case reveals the existence of censorship of the media by the authorities, while this was not specifically expressed by the interviewees in Cambodia. This was despite the fact that formal rules guarantee the freedom of expression in both countries. The political interference on media freedom in Vietnam illustrates the contradictory relationship among formal rules and informal rules and norms.
