Sarah Oates

Sarah Oates, Merrill College professor and Senior Scholar, is a UMD Distinguished Scholar-Teacher. She is a specialist in the field of political communication and democratization, focusing on how we can measure disinformation and propaganda as it travels through media systems. She has studied how traditional media and the internet can support or subvert democracy in places as diverse as Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom. Her most recent book, Seeing Red: Russian Propaganda and American News, examines how Russian propaganda is echoed by U.S. politicians and journalists. A former Fulbright Fellow in Russia, Oates has taught and lectured in the United States, Scotland, Russia, and Ukraine. She is an affiliate professor in the UMD Department of Communication and the College of Information Studies.

Complete Bio - Philip Merrill College of Journalism

Research Interests

• Media and democratization
• Propaganda and disinformation Elections and campaigns (particularly in the U.S., Russia, and United Kingdom)
• Authoritarian threat to free media