Peter Coe

I am a Lecturer in Law specialising in Media Law and Criminal Law and Co-Chair of the Law, Justice Society Research Group at the School of Law, University of Reading. Prior to this, I was a practising barrister specialising in privacy, defamation and reputation management, having been Called to Bar by Lincoln's Inn in 2007 as a Lord Denning Scholar and Hardwicke Entrance Scholar. I have also held a Senior Lectureship in Law at Aston University, where I taught Media Law and Criminal Law. Additionally, I am a Research Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London.

My research interests are: (i) the impact of citizen journalism, and the internet and social media, on free speech, media freedom/regulation and intermediary liability; (ii) defamation and the protection of corporate reputation; (iii) media power and plurality, the role the media plays within society and its impact on democracy. My work in these areas has been published in leading journals, such as Legal Studies, the University of Melbourne's Media & Arts Law Review, the Journal of Business Law and Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, amongst others. My forthcoming monograph, Media Freedom in the Age Citizen Journalism, will be published by Edward Elgar in December 2021, and my co-edited collection (with Professor Paul Wragg), Landmark Cases in Privacy Law, will be published by Hart Publishing in early 2022. In addition, I regularly write for practitioner and media outlets, such as Inforrm, and I am regularly invited to speak to the media, at conferences and to give guest lectures to academics, non-academics and policy makers.

Since August 2019 I have been Editor-in-Chief of Communications Law, one of the leading specialist journals devoted to media and technology law. I also sit on the International Editorial Boards of In Medias Res and the International Journal of Communication and New Technologies Law. Additionally, I am an Academic Associate Member of East Anglian Chambers and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. From 2017 to 2020 I was a member of the Executive Committee of the Society of Legal Scholars, and in 2020 I became the Convenor of the Society’s Media and Communications Law subject section.

My research led to me being invited to join the Information Law and Policy Centre (Institute of Advanced Legal Studies) as a Research Associate in May 2018, and in 2021 I was invited to join the IALS as a Research Fellow. In 2020 I was appointed as an Advisor to the University of East London's Online Harms and Cyber Crime Unit. My work on citizen journalism, media freedom and media regulation led to me helping to set up, and lead, an IMPRESS Advisory Group to provide expert guidance to the regulator on the creation and operation of a new regulatory scheme for traditional and new and emerging news publishers. And, in 2021 I was invited to join the IMPRESS Code Committee to support its review of its Standards Code for journalists. During 2021-2022, upon invitation from the British Association of Comparative Law, I am acting as the United Kingdom’s National Reporter on ‘Freedom of Speech and the Regulation of Fake News’. My report will be submitted to the International Academy of Comparative Law at the International Congress of Comparative Law in Asunción, Paraguay in October 2022.