On February 24 Nauru begins distribution of a newspaper called Mwinen Ko, which roughly translates to 'let's talk about it'. Mwinen Ko is part of an independent media industry that has emerged with assistance from the Australian Government.
Rod Henshaw, interim Media Director for the Nauru Government, said that, until now, the most effective form of mass communication on the island was painting messages on walls in public places.
'The telephone network was barely working, there was a radio station, which you could only receive when you drove past the building and the television station wasn't much better,' Rod said.
'Nauru now has a functioning radio station, a mobile phone network and a television station, and they've begun printing and distributing a local newspaper.'
The Australian Government has spent $446,000 on the project over the past two years. The Government of Nauru has contributed $96,000.
Public involvement since the media industry got up and running has been impressive. In October alone, the radio station received more than 4000 texts from the public, on an island where the population is just 12,000.
Since September 2009 there has been a massive uptake in the use of mobile phones, which is also now the primary vehicle for receiving radio.