Paul Byrne Video Bio Showreel

My name is Paul Byrne and I'm a video journalist and reporter from Ireland At the age of 31 my cross media work over the last 10 years has taken me to some amazing places from the centre of the Sahara desert, to the remotest islands of the Caribbean to the streets of Beirut But one of the places that has had the biggest impact on me as a journalist is right here; Villa treinte uno, Villa thirty one Lying just outside the centre of my adopted home of Buenos Aires this is one of Latin America's largest slum metropolises Just eight years ago the Argentine economy imploded and people like Julio Arrieta were given no option but to move into Argentina's mushrooming shantytowns One of my first reports when I relocated here in 2008 was about a project that Julio now runs an educational programme that offers his community, some of Argentina's most marginalised children the tools to help them help themselves For me having the chance to share their story is the essence journalism giving the human narrative on the day's events and showing there is more than one truth Far from the slum dwellers of the villas and its quagmire of social problems sits the famed Casa Rosada the government centre of Argentina On the balcony just up there is where Eva Peron gave her impassioned speeches that so famously fired up a nation while today's political elite might not be so enigmatic, be it in Argentina or elsewhere The constant aim of my reporting is to show how the decisions made in there play out on the lives of everyone out here While personally I do not hold any strong political affiliation I think politics is not about any party associations or divisions it’s about the daily lives of everyday people and everyone merits a voice Most journalists strive towards objectivity but there is no avoiding the fact our backgrounds impact on the way we view and report on the world Coming from Ireland I have always been lucky that a warm welcome and empathy has greeted me wherever I have gone Brought up in a small village shaped an early early desire to discover the bigger picture Following a Masters in International journalism I started out as a field producer and had the chance to hone my curiosity working in over 20 countries After cutting my teeth as a video journalist with the BBC I then breached the cold of Russia moving to Moscow to work with the newly launched international news channel On the news-desk I got a firm grasp on international politics covering the America's and the Middle East with the odd bit of presenting thrown in and also a stint as an entertainment reporter Always wanting to live life on the go has also been very helpful since I made the move to Latin America Frankly Argentina is a continent in itself is often a statement I hear from Glaciers, to deserts, to tropical rainforests, it’s a kaleidoscope of landscapes While breathtaking in this diversity a lot of my television reports here have taken me camera and tripod entoe clambering to some of the remotest of these environmental offerings As if by stark contrast just around the corner from this ecological reserve within Buenos Aires lies a very different scenery Much as the so called Paris of the south is a city of culture and tradition Buenos Aires is a capital with a modern energy, its a commercial centre for the region and a technologically mobile metropolitan with wifi on almost every corner For me it has proven the perfect base while covering the region for some of the World's leading media outlets You can soak up the atmosphere and let the city's ambience inspire and all the while put the final touches to your latest edit I now look forward to bringing you a diversity of reports from a range of viewpoints on the real issues affecting Latin America