Ryan Kath - Investigative Reporter

Ryan Kath is an award-winning investigative reporter for 41 Action News. He joined the I-team in 2010 after working for four years as a multimedia journalist at the station.

Ryan’s investigative work has earned seven Emmy awards in the past two years.

In 2012, Ryan and his colleagues were honored for their investigative work on five stories: a questionable multi-million dollar school district contract; the misleading claims of a national nonprofit; plane owners flying under the tax radar; violence against nurses inside KC area hospitals; and a series of reports on Missouri River flooding.

In 2011, Ryan’s investigation about reuniting families with cremated remains found in an abandoned funeral home, along with an analysis of the spike in snow days at Kansas City area school districts earned Emmy recognition.

 

Ryan’s investigations have also been honored by the Kansas and Missouri Broadcaster’s Associations, the Kansas City Press Club, and an Edward R. Murrow award for his story about two boys who rescued a paralyzed man from a pool.

Prior to his Kansas City arrival in 2006, Ryan worked for two years at KTTC-TV in Rochester, Minn.

Ryan graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College in 2002, and then spent a year working as a newspaper reporter. However, he left the pen and paper behind to attain a master’s degree in broadcast journalism at Boston University.

That is where he met his beautiful wife. They are now proud (and fatigued) parents of two young daughters, along with a mischievous mutt they adopted from Wayside Waifs.

Ryan is an avid sports fan, and he’ll root for the Royals and Chiefs (just as long as they aren’t playing the Twins or Vikings).

On the weekends, you’ll see him chasing down his professional soccer aspirations in the washed-up adult league, desperately hoping to catch the eye of a Sporting KC scout.

Ryan strives to expose problems and question how your taxpayer money is spent. His goal is to tell stories that change government policies and make a difference in the community.

The best investigations start with a tip. Please email Ryan at ryan.kath@kshb.com. You can also follow him on Twitter or connect Facebook.