Did you know we had some kind of press freedom back in the old days, when this country was young? It wasn’t perfect, however …
Watch the video (how truth won over the law)
And more …
The U.S. Revolution’s impact on our sense of freedom part one (equality)
The U.S. Revolution’s impact on our sense of freedom part two (religion)
The trial of John Peter Zenger (dramatization with Eddie Albert) Trial of 1735 starts around the 42 minute mark. This occured about 50 years before the end of the the Revolutionary War.
Encyclopedia reference of Zenger
Interesting
I have never pay attention to press freesom. But is very intersting how is been around for many years and how is being changing by the years. Also, something that caught my attention was the trial of John Peter Zinger. I didn’t know that for writing the truth, you can get in trouble. I wonder how many more people like John got in trouble for writing the truth.
The right of common citizenry to speak out against the abuses of power – to protest corruption, question the motives of those with power and influence in both the public and private sphere, and appeal to the masses for reform or repeal of said abuses – is a right that we take for granted today, but as is made clear by this article and its accompanying materials, this was not always so. John Peter Zenger may not have stopped such abuses completely in Colonial-era America by his publishing of materials critical of Governor Cosby, but his bravery in doing so set a precedent for those that would follow, and for that, we can be grateful.
John Peter Zinger was definitely an outstanding role in the freedom of press. His written papers were strong and helped persuade others to believe the truth. I believe he really makes an impact on how important written words can be and the impact they can cause. Once something is on paper or written online, it will stick in someones mind. This is the great gateway journalists can utilize to reach the public. Without the history learned here we may not do our best to use the freedom of press.
Even though this issue was so long ago it really is not that different than issues we deal with today. People are still greedy and corrupt and people are still going to want to expose that corruption. I think the same can be said about issues going on today. We dont think about it a lot but our freedom of press has always been important
I think it’s really interesting that being libel was extremely important to them in that day just as it is today!
The first thing that caught my attention was the partial transcript of trial. It is interesting that how this transcript was written though I don’t really have a clue of what is written in there. It is fun studying about John Peter Zenger and how his papers (the truth) won over the law! I am indeed glad to see how freedom of press has been changing for the better.
I thought the John Peter Zinger was very interesting. Looking back on this historical event comes across very humorous to me today, but at the time that it happened it was definitely a huge win for the liberty of the colonial people. Proving that his claims about people’s character were true in order to get acquitted is an amazing feat to say the least.
It’s funny how far we have come with our freedom of press in this country, then again we are still so naive about our rights on what we can or cannot write in the press. When people go on by saying that it is your right to say what ever you want, true…. but that doesn’t protect you from the ramifications of what that individual will do to you. People need to realize that freedom of speech only protects you from the government (in a very stretched out definition.)
I found it interesting to think of the freedom of the press in the beginning ages. We dont think about it much, given we assume its been around for hundreds of years. Very interesting to see what that time and era was like regarding this topic.
It’s interesting to think about how we struggle with press freedom during the colonial time and now. I liked studying the John Peter Zinger trial too. We actually studied it in Press Freedom and in Media Law. It made it fun!
It is because of the fearlessness and desire for liberty of people like Andrew Hamilton and John Peter Zenger, that we have the freedom we currently have today and that we cling to. Those are the kind of men that helped found our country. I found it very interesting to read about the trial and everything that lead up to it.
Since the country was young of course it’s the start of getting the country in order and together with many ideas and plan. It’s amazing how many of those kinds of people existed back then.
This is a very important and interesting post. I have never thought of the freedom of the press throughout history. It is important and interesting how the press changes for the past few centuries. The videos were great and the man explained the questions quite well. I watched some of the movie and a picture of the actual document of the trial was also impressive.