Mass media in Nauru

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Mass media in Nauru remain undeveloped, but Australian aid program AusAID has been financing and supporting their development. As of February 15, 2010, Nauruan media consist in a television station and a radio station, with a fortnightly newspaper due to be launched within days. Former Australian Broadcasting Corporation broadcaster Rod Henshaw is serving as interim media director for the Nauruan government. [1]

Contents

Press

In 2009, the Nauruan press consisted of the Central Star News and the Nauru Chronicle , both of which were published fortnightly, and the government-issued Nauru Bulletin , which was published weekly. [2] [3] [4]

In 2010, the first edition of Mwinen Ko , a monthly community newspaper, was published. [5] The Nauru Bulletin is managed by the Government Information Office (GIO) and is distributed by email and on the official website on a fortnightly basis. [6]

Television

Nauru Television (NTV) -operated by the state-owned, non-commercial Nauru Broadcasting Service- was launched in 1991. In addition to local programmes, it broadcasts programmes from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Australia Network and from New Zealand television. It is the only television company in the country. [1] [2] [3]

Radio

Radio Nauru, also operated by the Nauru Broadcasting Service, broadcasts local content and programmes from Radio Australia and the British Broadcasting Corporation. [1] [2] [3]

Media Freedom

As of 2015, Freedom House classifies Nauru press as "Partly Free". Classified as "free" from 2002 to 2013, it was downgraded to "partly free" in 2014. [7]

There have been several reports of media censorship within Nauru, under President Baron Waqa (elected in 2013). In August 2013, Acting President David Adeang placed a media ban on opposition criticism of the asylum seeker deal between Australia and Nauru. [8] Just over two weeks earlier, media coverage of the July 2013 riot at the Nauru detention centre was restricted. [8]

Police confiscated a video recording of a parliamentary session from Nauru Television in May 2000. [9]

In January 2014, the visa cost for foreign journalists rose from $200 to $8000. Australian opposition leader Bill Shorten was quoted as saying "There's more than one way to bar the scrutiny of the press ... it could be a measure aimed at discouraging Australian journalists from reporting". [10] However, the Nauruan government has stated that the increase was only intended to provide more revenue for the island, and was not implemented to deter reporting. [10]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nauru</span> Small island country in Oceania

Nauru, officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in Micronesia, part of Oceania in the Central Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba of Kiribati, about 300 km (190 mi) to the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of Nauru</span>

The politics of Nauru take place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Nauru is the head of government of the executive branch. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the parliament. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baron Waqa</span> Nauruan politician

Baron Divavesi Waqa is a Nauruan politician who was President of Nauru from 11 June 2013 until 27 August 2019. He previously served as Minister of Education from 2004 to 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sprent Dabwido</span> President of Nauru

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Topics related to Nauru include:

Nauru Television (NTV), established on 31 May 1991, is the government-owned, non-commercial sole television company in the Republic of Nauru. It is operated by the Nauru Broadcasting Service and overseen by the Nauru Media Bureau.

Kiribati is a developing island nation consisting in 32 atolls and one raised coral island (Banaba) scattered over some 3.5 million square kilometres in the central Pacific. There is access to national media throughout the country.

The Republic of Vanuatu is an officially trilingual state in the western Pacific, the three national languages being English, French and Bislama. There is a diversity of newspapers, but only one, state-owned television channel. Private radio stations are a recent development; there were reportedly none in 2007.

Asylum in Australia has been granted to many refugees since 1945, when half a million Europeans displaced by World War II were given asylum. Since then, there have been periodic waves of asylum seekers from South East Asia and the Middle East, with government policy and public opinion changing over the years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Visa policy of Nauru</span> Policy on permits required to enter Nauru

Visitors to Nauru must obtain a visa unless they come from one of the countries eligible for free visa on arrival. All visitors must hold a passport valid for 3 months. Transit visas are not required if the connecting flight leaves within three hours of arrival in Nauru. Business visitors must have a local sponsor.

In January 2014, Nauru's President Baron Waqa fired the country's only magistrate Peter Law, and cancelled the visa of its Chief Justice Geoffrey Eames. Law was fired after issuing an injunction to temporarily halt the deportation of three foreign nationals. Eames issued an injunction in an unsuccessful attempt to temporarily halt Law's deportation. Eames was in Australia at the time and his visa was cancelled, preventing his return to Nauru.

TV, magazines, and newspapers are all operated by both state-owned and for-profit corporations which depend on advertising, subscription, and other sales-related revenues.

Events in the year 2018 in Nauru.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Nauru makes media network from scratch", The Australian , February 15, 2010
  2. 1 2 3 "Nauru: Media", British Broadcasting Corporation, May 5, 2009
  3. 1 2 3 "Nauru - Society", Commonwealth of Nations
  4. "Freedom of the Press - Nauru", Freedom House, 2008.
  5. "Let’s talk about the issues': Developing Nauru’s media industry" Archived June 21, 2014, at archive.today , Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 21 October 2013
  6. "Nauru Bulletin" Archived May 21, 2018, at the Wayback Machine , Government Information Office
  7. "Freedom of the Press - Nauru", Freedom House, 2013.
  8. 1 2 "Nauru TV censored over asylum seeker deal", Sydney Morning Herald , 6 August 2013.
  9. "Freedom of the Press - Nauru", Freedom House, 2002
  10. 1 2 "Nauru to increase visa cost for journalists from $200 to $8,000", The Guardian, 9 January 2014.