When colonial governor William Cosby arrived to New York he wanted to control the state’s Supreme Court in order to control his salary. Unable to do so Cosby removed Chief Justice Lewis Morris, replacing him with James Delancey. Peter Zenger from the Journal published articles criticizing Cosby. In effect to the articles Cosby issued a proclamation towards Zenger`s newspaper accusing him of publishing false and scandalous articles. After eight month in jail Zenger went to trial. Andrew Hamilton, who was Zenger’s lawyer decide to take his client's case directly to the jury. When both sides finished presenting their arguments the jury returned with a verdict of not guilty. Hamilton established the precedent that a statement, even if defamatory, is not libelous if it can be proved, thus affirming freedom of the press in America. This case established freedom of press in the 13 colonies.
Although there has been freedom of press for more than 260 years there are still some areas that restrict it. An example is the recent war that has finalized. There is very little known about the troops and what was obtained by this. Also there very little information about what is going on in the Middle East. Maybe there will be more information given in the future when the troops return.
Excellent post Ivsa.
ReplyDeleteYou're not the only person to refer to the conflicts in the Middle East as an example of the press being restricted. But do you think its more because there's no freedom of the press or more because the press DOESNT WANT to report it?