Thomas Kent
Adjunct Associate Professor of International and Public Affairs
Personal Details
Focus areas: Journalism, disinformation, propaganda, Russian affairs, international broadcasting
Thomas Kent is a specialist on disinformation, Russian media and journalistic ethics. Until September 2018 he was president and CEO of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a congressionally funded corporation providing news in 25 languages to the former Soviet Union, the Balkans, Central Asia, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. He consults for governments, NGOs and corporations on Russia, disinformation, and ethical journalism. His book on combating Russian disinformation in Europe, Africa and Latin America was published in September 2021.
Previously, Kent was standards editor of The Associated Press, responsible for credibility, balance and fairness in AP’s text, photo and video services worldwide.
He served with the AP as reporter in Sydney, Australia; NATO and the European Union reporter in Brussels; reporter and bureau chief in Moscow; chief of AP operations in Tehran during the Iranian revolution; deputy news editor and news editor of AP's World Service Division in New York; international editor of the AP and chief of the AP supervisory desk.
He lectures internationally on journalistic ethics and disinformation, has served twice as a juror for the Pulitzer Prizes in international reporting and is a member of the advisory board of the Ethical Journalism Network. For recent publications and videos, see the LinkedIn link below. He is a senior fellow of the Jamestown Foundation and an associate fellow of GLOBSEC in Slovakia,
He was raised in Shaker Heights, Ohio, holds a degree in Russian and East European Studies from Yale University and speaks Russian, French and Spanish. He taught and advised at the Columbia Journalism School from 1995-2000, and began teaching at the Harriman Institute in 2001.
In The Media
"With Putin’s unrelenting pressure on Russia’s own news outlets, the American company — with more than 200 contributors across Russia — became perhaps the biggest independent source for Russians about events in their own country," Thomas Kent writes.
"We should never underestimate the Kremlin’s ability to bounce back, but for the moment the Kremlin seems to be at an information disadvantage," Thomas Kent writes.
To combat disinformation, ads and news coverage should focus on what each candidate would do if elected, Thomas Kent writes.
"It is becoming clearer and clearer these days which governments are frightened of information" says Thomas Kent while discussing information sovereignty and transparency