In their original article, they call him “our best journalist”, and his long, successful career confirms that they’re probably right. Matijanić was 51, born in Livno and was a dogged investigative journalist. He started his journalistic career in Slobodna Dalmacija, then continued in the weekly Feral Tribune, then again in Slobodna Dalmacija, and in recent years worked on the Index.hr website. He uncovered and reported on numerous scandals in the Croatian politics, which lead to him being sued often by those who felt wronged by his precise reporting. Among his more important journalistic works and discoveries was the falsified master’s degree of Ante Đapić at the Faculty of Law in Split.
Also, while working for Index.hr, Matijanić was the first to report on the dubious portions of the doctoral thesis by then-HDZ-candidate in the Split mayoral elections, Vice Mihanović. In a series of texts, Matijanić warned about a series of illogical and bizarre elements of Mihanović’s doctoral dissertation which he defended in 2018 at the Faculty of Economics in Osijek. For that work, he received the Marija Jurić Zagorka award for internet journalism, awarded by the Croatian Journalist Society (HND). In their explanation of why he was given the award, HND said: “Matijanić dissected it with journalistic precision, proving that the doctorate was a farse, while the parallel reality of politics and the politically poisoned academic community did everything possible to prove that nothing was wrong with the thesis. Matijanić also relentlessly reported on this, building a story about the doctorate and the politician Mihanović, but also about the Croatian reality. Therefore, his entire work on the ‘Mihanović case’ is an extremely valuable ‘story about Croatia 2021’. His journalistic work is undoubtedly one of the highest journalistic achievements of the past year and deserves the recognition of the profession”.
Matijanić also authored the book ‘Kerum and the Decline of Split’.
Today, the story of Matijanić’s passing got another chapter, as his partner (and another Index.hr journalist) Andrea Topić published on Facebook and on Index a very disturbing account of the last several days of Matijanić’s life. She accused the Split health services of numerous oversights, ignoring how serious Vlado’s situation has gotten (including refusing to hospitalise him 2 hours before his passing!), the complete lack of Paxlovid in any of the Split hospitals and much more. Vili Beroš, the Minister of Health confirmed to index.hr that he’s ordered the inspection, aimed at determining the circumstances of Vladimir Matijanić’s passing.
