A Brief Narrative of the Case and Trial of John Peter Zenger by Hamilton

When discussing the media, we must search back to its primal state the News Paper. For it was the News paper and its writers that forged ahead and allowed freedoms for today’s journalism on all fronts, from the Twitter accounts to the daily gazettes all must mark a single event in the evolution of media in respects to politics and all things shaping. Moving on in media history, we began to see a rapid expansion around 1990. With more than 50% of all American homes having cable TV access, newspapers in every city and town with major newspaper centers reaching far more than ever before. Then the introduction of the Internet; nothing would ever be the same.

The year was 1734 and America saw the incarceration of John Peter Zenger, publisher of the NEW YORK Weekly Journal, for publishing articles that ridiculed Governor Cosby of New York. Cosby accused Zenger of seditious libel. The law of seditious libel held that the greater the truth, the greater the libel, meaning that if the articles were true, they would, of course, undermine the Governor's authority. The most prominent attorney and a founder of America, Andrew Hamilton, represented Zenger. Hamilton rationalized that his client be acquitted. He based his reasoning’s on what Zenger had published about the governor was, in fact, true, Hamilton convinced the jury to find him not guilty. Later, "A Brief Narrative of the Case and Trial of John Peter Zenger," written by Hamilton, was published anonymously in Zenger's paper. The Brief Narrative argued that newspapers should be free to criticize the government as long as what they wrote was true. The article helped shape the political culture that led to the Revolutionary War and the subsequent adoption of the Bill of Rights.

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...ase of archaic machines. Whatever way you chose to view the incident I am sure that the media continuously swayed your opinion on voting as well as Bush himself.

In closing, who is watching the watchdogs, the journalists who are now trying to carve our moral standards and social, political opinions? Asked if they are to powerful, I say yes, while regulated by the mighty Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Communications Act of 1934 it is ultimately us the consumer that must take a share of the blame. Without us watching, the media could not be as influential as it is today. Far too long, have we the American people accepted what the media is doing. Unquestionably, we have gotten used to the way the press do things, allowing them to become too powerful.

Works Cited

Chapter 7, Gateways to Democracy

& PBS Milestones in the History of Media and Politics