Columcille Joseph Kenny was born on 7 March 1951 in Dublin to Michael B Kenny and Eileen Kenny (née Morgan). Colum studied law and qualified as a Barrister-at-Law before working at RTÉ from 1977 to 1982 as a current affairs reporter and producer. Colum joined the School of Communications at the National Institute for Higher Education Dublin [now Dublin City University (DCU)] in 1982. He is a former chair of DCU’s Masters in Journalism programme and is currently Professor Emeritus.
Colum was a member of the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland/Independent Radio and Television Commission from 1998 to 2003, and was a member of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland from 2010 to 2015. He was a founding board member of the European Union Media Desk in Ireland, and appointed a member of the Irish government's Media Mergers Advisory Group in 2008. He was also elected an honorary bencher of King's Inns in 2017. Colum is a long-standing journalist and author, and a regular columnist with national Irish newspapers.