Dr. Brian L. Ott is a professor of communication at Missouri State University. His chief research interest concerns the intersection of rhetoric and media, and how evolving communication technologies alter the form and character of public discourse. He regularly publishes on political communication, social media, and fake news.
He has been interviewed by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press, and Politico, among others. His op-eds have appeared in outlets such as USA Today, Newsweek, Salon, and The Hill. Ott is a former president of the Western States Communication Association and a former editor of the Western Journal of Communication. His research interests include communication and popular culture, as well as media, technology, and society.
He is the author of several books, including Places of Public Memory: The Rhetoric of Museums and Memorials (co-editor with C. Blair and G. Dickinson, Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2010), The Twitter Presidency: Donald J. Trump and the Politics of White Rage (with G. Dickinson, New York: Routledge, 2019), and Critical Media Studies: An Introduction (3rd ed., with R. Mack, Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell, 2020).
