Her Journey into Broadcast Journalism and Production Leads Alexandria Kenney JMS’25 to an Internship with CNN Anderson Cooper 360°

“Of course I was going to make mistakes, of course I was going to ask silly questions, but I am proud of my diligence and my willingness to explore a new space,” said Alexandria Kenney JMS’25, reflecting on her time as an intern at CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360°.

Kenney, who majored in Journalism and Media Studies with a specialization in Global Media and minored in Linguistics and Business Administration, worked as a production intern at CNN during the spring semester of her senior year.

At CNN, Kenney worked alongside producers on the major nightly news program and conducted research, gathered information for scripts, and gained firsthand experience working in production.

“As I learned the ins and outs of producing, it made me eager to try out new programs, methods, and techniques to innovate and elevate stories,” Kenney said. “And I always love a challenge.”

Kenney said her JMS education and prior reporting experience enabled her to embrace the demands of her internship. While she was interning at CNN, she was enrolled in the SC&I class  Television Reporting taught by Teaching Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Journalism and Media Studies  Steven Miller. She said as her skills developed in the class, working in production at CNN became far less daunting, and vice versa.

As an undergrad, Kenney also gained hands-on journalism knowledge and experience in other JMS classes, including Broadcast News Writing and Reporting, and through her work at The Daily Targum, where she was the head news editor and a reporter covering issues such as on-campus protests and New Jersey politics, often writing multiple articles each week.

In addition to her classes, Kenney also credits the SC&I alumni network for connecting her to the mentors who have supported her along the way. While she is now driven to succeed in a journalism career, Kenney said this path wasn’t always a part of her plan. “Sometimes I feel a little out of place, because I was not one of those people who were like, ‘I’ve wanted to be a journalist my entire life,’” Kenney said.

She originally intended to major in history and French, but as she progressed through her classes, her path shifted. She’d always been passionate about writing and social change, so once she discovered how journalism could bring her interests together, it clicked and Kenney pivoted to a Journalism and Media Studies major.

Today, Kenney is a freelance editor and writer for AsAmNews, a nonprofit news site that highlights Asian American stories. She also continues to pitch her writing to other outlets while attending panels and workshops on related topics, including data visualization, ethical sourcing, and artificial intelligence.

Kenney is also a Student Board Representative for the New York chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA), where she helps plan events and curates social media posts. Recently, she took the lead on producing the chapter’s newsletter during the chapter president’s absence. She’s currently coordinating the chapter’s annual summer picnic and gearing up for AAJA’s national convention in Seattle.

Kenney has also started her next career adventure: she is working as a temporary assistant producer with the breaking news team at Forbes.

In addition to her passion for journalism, Kenney is also an artist, and she leverages her artistic skills to give back to her communities. As a Rutgers junior in 2023, Kenney painted a mural for the “Barbie” movie at Rutgers Cinema, for example.

Recently, Kenney worked with a local artist to pitch a mural for a small business in her neighborhood. “Painting murals and producing stories remind me of the absolute joy I find in engaging with people and spaces around me,” she said. “Access to information and art makes communities resilient, empowered, and inspired, and I consider it a very high privilege to be entrusted with these critical resources.”

Kenney’s drive to make an impact, no matter how daunting the task, is a defining part of her approach to her work. “Something that I always carry with me is this sense that I want to enter a space and somehow make it better, even if it's something that’s been around forever, even if it’s way out of my league,” she said. “I am not really the type to just sit around and wait for people to give me things, I just go for things.”

With her determination, curiosity, and commitment to integrity, she’s ready to do just that.

Learn more about the Journalism and Media Studies major on the Rutgers School of Communication and Information website.