Zenger, John Peter
Zenger, John Peter( 1697–1746),Germanborn printer and journalist in New York, served as an apprentice to William Bradford, and established the New-York Weekly Journal (1733) to oppose Bradford's New York Gazette and assail the administration of the provincial governor. His polemical articles and rhymes caused him to be arrested and tried for criminal libel (1735). Despite the opposition of the judge, the jury found him not guilty, and his acquittal has been considered instrumental in establishing American freedom of the press. He published a verbatim account of the trial as A Brief Narrative of the Case and Tryal of John Peter Zenger (1736), and continued to edit the Journal until his death.
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