We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nina Hernandez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Nina, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?

When I left journalism in the spring of 2019, I was dog tired. I was tired of being overworked and underpaid, sure. I think most journalists have to contend with that. But it was bigger than just that. In just a few short years, I’d learned more than my fair share about how newsroom politics affected what made it in the news, who wrote it, and how it got framed. As a Latina raised in a working class background, I experienced first-hand the racism, sexism, and classism that have historically made the journalism industry inhospitable to people like me.

Not only had I spent years being exploited for cheap labor in order to secure my place in the industry, but my reward for paying my dues appeared to be nothing but more work for slightly higher pay. And as a woman of color in the newsroom, I quickly learned that I had unwritten duties in the form of educating my white colleagues on matters of race and class. At times, I felt like I was the little boy with my finger in the dam. Except instead of water, I was trying to hold back generations of institutional racism.

After a couple of years on break, I returned to journalism in a freelance capacity, but I continued to experience similar problems. I grew adept at bringing an objective lens to city issues, but that straight news reporting didn’t fulfill me. I started Rantz by Neenz to create a platform for every aspect of my writing: straight news reporting and analysis through an absurdist lens. Part alternative media project and part performance art.

Put another way: I went into the journalism industry and found it toxic, vulgar, and hypocritical. So I decided to create a character that was all those things and more. Rantz by Neenz, Austin’s Actual Alternative News Source.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I started the newsletter in 2021 during a break from journalism with just a couple dozen subscribers. Over the next three years, through trial and error, I developed the character and voice of my alter ego. Neenz is a straight news reporter, a metro columnist, and City Hall jester all rolled into one. Yes, she has my real-life decade of experience covering Central Texas politics. But she’s also a Tejana/Cajun, lesbian troll. She is my answer to more than a decade of being asked to change myself to find success in this profession.

My goal is to challenge every convention in the journalism industry. Every time we face scandal or a period of great transition as an industry, it seems to me like we choose to continue down the same old path. Even though we know it’s a path that is inhospitable to people of color, queer people, and people who come from working class backgrounds. As we search for a sustainable model for the next generation of journalism, my hope is that this project will expose why the industry continues to shed journalists of color.

Many of my readers are passionate about this project because they interact with a journalism industry that is obsessed with maintaining access. They want a critical eye on not just elected officials, but other local institutions, in particular the media. I often hear that people don’t always agree with what’s in Rantz by Neenz, but they like hearing an alternative voice in the town square.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My ultimate goal is to promote civic engagement at the local level and to deconstruct the role of the journalist in modern society. Clearly, the average person isn’t on the same page as the media elites who generally live on either coast. Well, I don’t think what’s left of the local media aligns with the values of the general public, either.

And I think a big part of it is that the media is still focused on retaining “objectivity” and hiding their opinions and personalities from the audience. People can sense that’s phony, and so they don’t trust it. Rantz by Neenz is asking what happens if a news source completely abandons that pretense, and leads with their bias and opinions upfront. Without sacrificing reporting integrity.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I admit when I’m wrong. I’ll take a call from anybody. And I’m not afraid to give credit where credit is due. Above all, though, I think what people respect about me is that I will call out my closest friends with the same level of vitriol as my worst enemies. Nobody gets a pass on spreading misinformation or dumping on the little guy. In a social media era where you never know who is getting paid to post by who, my readers know the only one behind the controls at Rantz is Neenz.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rantzbyneenz.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsneenzjeez/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090536070807
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nina-hernandez-139a67106/

Image Credits

Photos by Erica Nix