Climate Journalism on Instagram

Jule Zentek reports on climate issues and social challenges on the Instagram channel @klima.neutral – in an understandable, approachable and fact-based way. Her goal: to raise climate awareness and enable people to better understand climate policy developments.

Werksgelände: What do you actually do as a climate journalist and presenter at @klima.neutral?

Jule Zentek: In my work as a climate journalist and also as a presenter for the Instagram channel @klima.neutral of WDR, I deal with the latest news on a daily basis and try to categorize it for our Klima.neutral community from a climate policy perspective. My aim is to highlight connections and dynamics and thereby raise awareness of problems. For example, how are higher energy costs linked to fossil fuels such as coal and oil? What challenges are we actually facing as a result of the energy transition? What effects of the climate crisis are we already feeling in Germany? These are all typical questions that my team and I deal with, and which we process in such a way that the complexity of the issues is reduced and as many people as possible can access them.

What experience or talents should you have for the job?

I’ve always loved digging into topics. In other words, I like to spend a lot of time reading up on topics, talking to various experts and asking the questions that come up during my research. Especially for climate journalism, which combines many different disciplines, the exchange with experts is of course invaluable. Unlike some of my colleagues, I don’t come from the natural sciences. I studied economics and climate ethics and originally came from financial journalism. But my knowledge of economics still helps me, because the climate crisis is a factor in every topic. For example, it is also a product of our way of doing business. I therefore think it is also helpful to understand these dynamics. I therefore think that really wanting to understand the climate crisis and its impact on the world and us humans is one of the most important drivers.

What excites you about your job?

I learn something new every day, I get to talk to people who really know their stuff and I’ve met so many great, impressive people as a result. Every day is different. Every topic brings a different story to light and has to be told differently. You can’t get more variety than that. I often say: my job is to acquire knowledge and to be able to pass it on – how nice is that?

You don't have to be a biologist with a doctorate or have a master's degree in geography, but expertise in a particular subject area helps enormously to build a brand as a journalist.

- Jule Zentek

What are the biggest challenges in your job?

As a social media content provider on Instagram, for example, we are very much bound by the platform’s specifications, such as the algorithm. Nobody knows exactly what makes it tick. What does it like and gets boosted? What doesn’t? We also ask ourselves every day how we can best explain and package our topics. For example, how do we report on the heatwave in Antarctica in such a way that we reach as many people as possible? That’s not always easy. Of course, we also notice that the climate crisis has been pushed into the background by society and the media. Many people’s own capacities to deal with crises, war and suffering are simply exhausted. However, it would be fatal to lose sight of the climate crisis because of this. It is just as acute as others and the effects are becoming ever more noticeable. This makes it all the more important that we continue to report on it even in current times.

What has been your biggest flop on the job so far, and what have you learned from it?

Every post and every reel, i.e. everything that you put a lot of work into only to get a small amount of reach and interaction, hurts and feels like a flop. But that’s the way it works on social media. At the same time, I appreciate the direct exchange with the community that we can have at any time – unlike with linear media such as TV or radio. We have a very inquisitive and smart community that discusses with each other, asks questions and wants to have them explained. This exchange about the climate crisis is what we want to achieve – and if that doesn’t work with every post, that’s fine.

Jule Zentek

… works as a freelance journalist and presenter. In addition to her work as a presenter for @klima.neutral, she is also an author for Quarks for the environment and climate team.

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