Ep 86: Zahra Hirji, Energy and Climate Reporter at Buzzfeed News
Today’s guest is Zahra Hirji, Energy and Climate Reporter at Buzzfeed News. Zahra has been a reporter at Buzzfeed since 2017, where she’s focused on how Trump Administration policies, federal agencies and Congress have impacted climate change. Priding herself on holding all parties to account, she recently wrote an article, titled “How A Bad Boss Remade Himself As a Climate Hero,” shining light on the intersection of the MeToo Movement and climate change within the scientific community. Prior to joining Buzzfeed News, Zahra held a career steeped in climate change journalism, spending several years as a reporter for InsideClimate News, one of the earliest publications dedicated to covering the impact of climate change. Zahra offered a unique perspective not only to thinking about the ongoing challenges in climate change but also of the role of journalism. I very much enjoyed this conversation and think you will too! Enjoy the show! You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.
Inevitable · Zahra Hirji, Jason Jacobs
Audio is streamed directly from the publisher (cdn.simplecast.com) as published in their RSS feed. Play Podcasts does not host this file. Rights-holders can request removal through the copyright & takedown page.
Show Notes
In today’s episode, we cover:
- How Zahra landed at Buzzfeed covering climate
- The Trump Administration and how its policies have affected climate
- Her audience and readership
- The positioning of her news room and editors
- Journalism’s role
- Her journey from studying geology at Brown to the world of climate journalism
- What she learned at Inside Climate News
- How climate change has become increasingly topical and relevant
- Editorial decisions around what stories to cover
- Delivering impact vs. ad revenue
- Journalism’s shifting focus
- Challenges faced by journalism and the rise of disinformation
Links to topics discussed in this episode:
- Zahra Hirji at Buzzfeed: https://www.buzzfeed.com/zahrahirji
- Inside Climate News: https://insideclimatenews.org/
- George Luber, “How A Bad Boss Remade Himself As a Climate Hero”: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zahrahirji/cdc-whistleblower-george-luber-investigation
- “New York Loses Climate Change Fraud Case Against Exxon Mobil”:https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/10/climate/exxon-climate-lawsuit-new-york.html
- Yale Program on Climate Change Communication: https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/
Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at [email protected].
Connect with MCJ:
*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant