Asylum seekers say they’ve seen reporting team around the Australian-run immigration centre on island where media access is tightly controlled

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

A reporting team from Sky News has been granted access to film at the Australian-run immigration centre on Nauru.

Asylum seekers and refugees on the island had been reporting since Monday that they had seen media around the area.

Laura Jayes, the news channel’s Canberra-based political reporter, arrived in the past two days, and photographs taken at the gate of the centre show a camera operator, identified as Josh Brown of Sky News.



Shane Bazzi (@shanebazzi) Media in #Nauru today. Anyone know who it is? pic.twitter.com/hxunIa9BHz

Media access to Nauru is tightly controlled. In June 2014 the country raised the visa application fee from $200 to a nonrefundable $8,000.

Just two Australian media representatives have successfully applied for the visa since the change, despite many reportedly attempting, including al-Jazeera, SBS and the Guardian.

In June a crew from Channel Nine’s A Current Affair, with reporter Caroline Marcus, gained admission to Nauru and produced a report.

A Current Affair: story of visit to Nauru detention centre will 'stun Australia' Read more

Previously Chris Kenny, a columnist for the Australian visited and filed reports in 2015. Later that year he told Guardian Australia: “If my public support for strong border protection measures helped sway Nauru’s decision, so be it.”

The Nauruan government has repeatedly attacked other media organisations, including Guardian Australia and the ABC, accusing them of fabricating negative stories about the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees on the island, and about its governance issues.

Sky News and the Nauruan government have been contacted for comment.