may 1, 1735 - Zenger Case

Description:

Newspaper printers in colonial days ran the risk of being jailed for libel if any article offended the political authorities. In 1735, John Peter Zenger, a New York editor and publisher, was brought to trial on a charge of libelously criticizing New York’s royal governor. Zenger’s ;lawyer argued that his client had printed the truth about the governor. At the time, injuring a governor’s reputation was considered a criminal act, no matter truth or false. Ignoring the English law, the jury voted to exonerate Zenger. The Zenger case was significant for the time because it encouraged newspapers to take greater risks in criticizing a colony’s government.

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