Biography

Kenny works in The Media School at Indiana University where he works with students developing cross-platform journalism skills as the adviser to IUSTV, and in a variety of other extracurricular roles, leading workshops, providing feedback and more. He has also taught sports media classes, lectured on audio production, photography and videography as well.

A journalist with experience in all mass media formats, he has worked in broadcast markets around the southeast. His print work has been published across Alabama, with photographs and essays published by high value platforms like ESPN, Smithsonian Magazine. He’s also been fortunate to see his photography published in a few books. Kenny has written for the Associated Press and Westwood One newswires. He’s reported breaking news on the national ABC Radio News network and appeared on air in most of the major U.S. markets.

He has covered the high profile hiring and firing of college football and basketball coaches in three states. As a breaking news reporter he has covered live hostage situations, police officers killed in the line of duty, the first murder in the D.C. Beltway Sniper spree and more. He has reported in the state legislature in Arkansas and the courtrooms of Alabama. Among other stories, he anchored coverage of the conviction of two men in the 1963 16^th Street Baptist Church bombing, the removal of Roy Moore from the Alabama Supreme Court, the imprisonment of a former governor and the prosecution of Richard Scrushy, the first executive tried under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the conviction of former Alabama governor Don Siegelman.

Previously he has worked at al.com, Alabama’s most highly trafficked news site, covering agricultural stories, politics, breaking news, weather crises and more as a multimedia journalist. There he wrote, produced photography, video packages and podcasts.

Most recently, he spent eight years at Samford University where he was the student media adviser for The Samford Crimson and taught classes like writing and editing, social media and mass media and society. His students won more than 70 regional and national print and broadcast awards during his time there.

He rides a bicycle (sometimes fast, usually slow), and has raced bikes in seven states and three countries. He’s a SCUBA diver, having been underwater in more than a half-dozen countries. He’s also run the world’s slowest marathon and a perfectly average 70.3 half Ironman.

His research has examined faceism, language used in political campaigns, social media, political communication and mobile media.

Kenny is married to Dr. Lauren Reichart Smith.