Law school might already be a part of Kenny Byrd’s life if he weren’t someone who believes in sticking to his convictions.
But Byrd, a 1995 graduate of Samford University in Birmingham, deferred attending law school last year to help establish the Washington bureau of Associated Baptist Press (ABP), the independent news service based in Jacksonville, Fla.
“One of our goals and purposes is to give as best and accurate and objective news as we can,” he said.
And Byrd has found there is plenty of news in Washington that is important to Baptists.
“Covering news that Baptists care about in Washington is like taking a sip out of a fire hydrant,” said Byrd who has been on Capitol Hill for six years — the first five exclusively covering religious-liberty issues for the Baptist Joint Committee’s communications office.
“There’s so much up here that Baptists and Christians would be interested in newswise that you can hardly handle it,” he said. “You’d be surprised how much comes up here in the Washington area in regard to policy and issues that affect people in the pews.”
Byrd said the amount of news that impacts Christians’ lives makes prioritizing coverage of events one of the toughest parts of his job.
“I try to focus on what is the biggest news,” said Byrd.
He cites President Bush’s initiatives on faith-based initiative as an example.
“That’s so central,” Byrd said. “I think church and state issues and religious liberty are so central to Baptist issues, I generally highlight those a lot.”
But there are other topics he believes deserve attention in regard to social justice that are often ignored by the secular media.
He said issues such as Bread for the World (a campaign to combat hunger) and debt relief are largely ignored by the secular media as well as some conservative religious media.
“It’s unfortunate, because people need to be informed,” Byrd said. “There’s not a lot of coverage of a religion angle to all that in the secular press.
“When I see things like that — that have a religion angle that I think is largely being ignored, I try to make sure I make space for it,” he added.
Speculating on why the secular media often shies away from certain hot button issues, Byrd said he believes it is because most media outlets are “corporate driven.”
“Their hands are much more tied because of the way they’re run and how corporate and advertisers control what they do,” he said.
Byrd admits his association with the Baptist church helps him as much as hurting him with legislators and others who may be biased.
“As often as that helps, it hurts,” he said. “It’s probably 50–50 on that.”
For the most part, legislators are generally open to speaking with a representative of a Baptist publication, Byrd said.
“Most of them are clued in enough about diversity in general that they’re pretty good about not making too many assumptions,” Byrd said.
Covering some groups is not as easy, said Byrd. He mentions groups dealing with HIV/AIDS.
“They hear Baptist and they assume fundamentalist,” Byrd said. “We’re not here to say we’re not conservative or anything, but you have to build the trust and tell them, ‘You’re going to get a fair shake here’ and that’s the kind of thing I let them know.”
Discussing his employer, Byrd said he believes ABP is on target with the service it provides.
“I think there’s a need for it because of its independence,” Byrd said of the 10-year-old wire service. “The people who created ABP saw a need for a place where people can get reliable news and I think they do a good job of it.”
Byrd majored in math, with a minor in journalism while he was at Samford. “I was big on news and sort of a political buff and always read all the time,” Byrd said.
Eventually, he started writing for the Samford student newspaper, The Crimson.
“I kind of thought, ‘you can make a difference when you report,’” he remembered. “You can report on things and you can see a change.
“When I realized that in reporting on facts, people respond, I was really exhilarated by that,” Byrd said.
Dennis Jones, a journalism professor at Samford, remembers Byrd with affection.
“Kenny was a great student,” Jones said, going so far as to call Byrd one of his best students.
“He’s just a very, very bright guy,” Jones added. “He’s very easy to get along with.”
More than a journalist, Byrd, 28, believes his work with ABP is a ministry. Discussing the option of attending law school last fall, Byrd said, “I stayed around because I really believe in ABP and what the bureau does,” Byrd said. “I wanted to see the Washington bureau up and running.” (ABP contributed)
Samford grad now Baptist journalist on the ‘Hill’
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