Peter Zenger and Freedom of the Press!

John Peter Zenger began publishing newspapers in New York in the end of the year 1733. He wanted to let the public know the rigorous policies of the colonial governor William Cosby. When William Cosby arrived to New York he encountered a strong discord with the Council of the colony over his salary. He was not able to control the states supreme court so he removed Chief justice Lewis Morris, replacing him with James Delancey of the royal party. Zenger’s New-York Weekly Journal, which were supported by the member of the party, continued to publish articles of the royal Governor. When Cosby got fed up he issued a proclamation who found the newspaper guilty of saying false and insubordinate things about him. On Sunday, November 17, 1734 Zenger was arrested and charged with seditious libel. After more than eight months in prison, Zenger went to trial defended by a Philadelphia lawyer Andrew Hamilton. The case became very popular and had a lot of public interest. At the end of all odd Hamilton decided to plead his clients case directly the jury.After the arguments for both sides were finished, the jury was retired, only to return shortly with a verdict of not guilty. To better understand the significance of this historic case it is important to examine an actual issue of the New-York Daily JOURNAL prior to Zenger's arrest. Here we see a typical attack against the government in Zenger's original newspaper as it originally appeared more than 260 years ago. In page 1 after successfully defending Zenger in this landmark case, Hamilton established the precedent that a statement, even if it was exhibiting unkind behavior or words, it is not false if it can be proved, which was affirming freedom of the press in America.


Also there is cases where right now people are still struggling with Freedom of the Press. Like this article. I think they do not want people to go in an see the real thing because their afraid that people are going to know the truth. Yet the truth needs to be known by every one.

Oil Spill Media Access: Government Wants Press Freedom, Pushes BP To Not Restrict Access WASHINGTON (AP) -- The federal government generally is not restricting news media access to oil spill disaster areas in the Gulf of Mexico and wants oil giant BP to do likewise, unless there are good security or safety reasons, a Coast Guard admiral said Monday.
Thad Allen, who is overseeing the federal response to the Gulf oil spill, said that "general guidance" had been issued that there were only two reasons why the media should be prohibited from an area: "If it's a security reason or a safety reason because of personal protective equipment."
"Other than that, we are putting no restrictions on access," Allen told a White House news briefing.
He was asked about complaints about instances in which journalists were being denied access to disaster sites.
"Now, we can't tell somebody to talk to somebody they don't want to. But my policy is, unless it's a security or safety reason, there is no restriction on access," Allen said.
Asked what he would do if a journalist wanted to take a picture of an oil-coated bird and was barred from doing so, Allen said that was "hypothetical."
"I guess somebody would have to give me the specifics of an incident and we'll go take a look at it," he said.
But in general, he said, "we'll follow up...I'll have a call with Tony Hayward," the London-based oil company's CEO.