Nauru report ‘sanitised’

NAURU – A recent report on Nauru by Australia’s Nine Network has been criticised for imbalance.

Reporters for the programme A Current Affair travelled to Nauru to report on asylum seekers and to interview the President Baron Waqa, and Justice Minister David Adeang.

Opposition MPs who have been suspended from parliament for two years said they were not approached by the journalists.

The Programme maintains there was no negotiation with the government prior to the visit and it claims the journalist spent five months researching the story.

A refugee advocate in Australia,, Ian Rintoul, said the report was “selective, superficial and sanitised”.

“A Current Affair knew what kind of programme they had to broadcast, I think they knew what kind of programme they wanted before they went,” he said. “They produced that kind of programme much to the approval of the Nauru government and the Australian government, I believe.”

Rintoul said the report was a waste of the $8000 it would have cost for a journalist’s visa.

Suspended MP Roland Kun said the timing f the programme, two weeks from an election, was unfortunate as it painted Nauru politics in an unrealistic light. - RNZI