Jonathan Coulter

Jonathan is retired after a career as an economist in overseas development, involving much travel. Since 1998 he grew increasingly concerned about Middle Eastern affairs and the way these are reported in the UK. In 2016, he led a group complaint to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) about Murdoch newspapers’ misreporting about a meeting in the House of Lords, and then lodged a Judicial Review (JR) against IPSO with the support of the Hacked-Off Campaign. While the JR proved unsuccessful, it turned Jonathan into a strong advocate for free speech and independent regulation of the British press.

He spelt out much of his thinking in a speech on 12 December 2020.  In 2021 he became Secretary of CAMPAIN which he helped found that year. He frequently blogs for CAMPAIN and has had articles published by Mondoweiss, Jewish Voice for Labour, Open Democracy, Middle East Monitor and elsewhere. He also jointly authored (with Dr Jan Deckers) a concise critique of the International Holocaust Memorial Association (IHRA) "working definition" of antisemitism -  published in the ResPublica journal of moral philosophy.