Dr. Peter Coe

Pete Coe is an Associate Professor in Law at the University of Birmingham. He holds an LLB, an LLM, and a PhD. Pete’s research interests relate to five interconnected themes within the field of Media Law: (1) the changing nature of journalism (often because of technology), and how this impacts on free speech, press freedom and regulation, and the concepts of privacy and reputation; (2) defamation; (3) SLAPPs, including how they relate to defamation and privacy and their gendered dynamics; (4) media power and plurality, the role the media plays within society and its bearing on the public sphere and democracy, and (5) the impact of the internet, social media, and the regulation of online services on the public sphere.

Pete’s research has led to several external appointments. For example, in 2022 he was appointed by the Council of Europe as an independent member of the Council’s Expert Committee on SLAPPs. He is a member of Impress Code Committee, and in 2021-2022 he was engaged by Impress to draft its new Journalism Standards Code and Guidance. During 2021-2022, upon invitation from the International Academy of Comparative Law and British Association of Comparative Law, he acted as the UK’s National Rapporteur on Freedom of Speech and the Regulation of Fake News.

His work has been published in leading journals such as Legal Studies, the University of Melbourne’s Media & Arts Law Review, Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, and the Journal of Media Law, among others, and his monograph, Media Freedom in the Age Citizen Journalism, was published by Edward Elgar in 2021. He is the co-editor, with Professor Paul Wragg, of Landmark Cases in Privacy Law, published by Hart in 2023. In addition, he regularly writes for practitioner and media outlets, and he is often invited to speak to the media, at international conferences, and to give guest lectures to academics, non-academics and policy makers.

Pete is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Communications Law. He is also an IAS Fellow at Durham University, an Associate Research Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and Information Law and Policy Centre at the University of London, and a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Reading. He is an Associate Academic Member of East Anglian Chambers.