Goran Jungvirth

I was born on September 27, 1976 in Čakovec, a small town in northern Croatia. My father, who unfortunately died when I was 13, was a journalist as well. My mother is one of Croatia’s best pediatricians, and I'm really proud of her work. I completed a training course at the Večernji List newspaper, a Croatian daily based in Zagreb, in October 2000, and took a Reuter's television journalism course in May 2002 in Dubrovnik. I work as a multimedia journalist, which means that I can make radio, TV and print reports. I became an IWPR trainee in 2005 but I still work with various Croatian media and NGOs on all kinds of media projects, both inside and outside the country. Before becoming a journalist, I worked for PULS public and market research agency, based in Zagreb, in 1999. Previously, I studied political sciences at the University of Zagreb. I wanted to become a journalist after I got the chance to work at beginning of 2001 for the CCN network, the first commercial television in Croatia. This was an exciting time because we were the only alternative to the Croatian state television network, which was and still is the most powerful media in Croatia. I felt then like I could play a good role in society through doing this work and I still feel the same way now. I was trained by IWPR editors and journalists in The Hague in 2005 and 2006 on how to report on war crimes trials there and also in Croatia. My Hague tribunal reporting experience was an opportunity for me to get a better grasp of the events that triggered the war in the former Yugoslavia. Generally I'm proud of all my reports related to tribunal trials. I can use them, as I recently did when lecturing students about war crimes reporting, as good examples of balanced, professional journalism, recognised as such by not only the Croatian media but also NGOs dealing with war crimes issues and my Croatian fellow journalists. To me, being a journalist means being socially active and involved, and being able to influence society by reporting about things that really matter.