Jenny Ruth: The journalist who left NZME and its ideology behind

Jenny Ruth on their visit to Waitangi Treaty Grounds.

While browsing Substack recently, I stumbled upon a name I hadn’t seen in a while: Jenny Ruth. Once a journalist at BusinessDesk, a platform owned by NZME, Ruth appears to have transitioned, no pun intended, into the world of independent writing. Judging by the last posts on BusinessDesk dating back to 2023, it seems Ruth has moved on from the mainstream media space. And what a transition it’s been.

What caught my attention wasn’t just Ruth’s shift to Substack or their apparent disappearance from NZME’s pages, it was the substance of what they were writing. In a landscape where corporate journalism often reads like a script edited by a DEI committee, Ruth’s unapologetic views stood out.

When I first saw Jenny’s profile photo, I wasn’t sure of their gender. Their bio didn’t offer pronouns either, which, for someone previously employed by NZME, was unexpected. Out of respect and in the absence of confirmation, I’ll refer to Ruth using they/them pronouns.