John Peter Zenger

Zenger, John Peter (1697–1745), colonial publisher and journalist whose trial for libel (1735) furthered freedom of the press. As opponents of the English governor, William Cosby, and his party, Zenger and a group of colleagues established the New York Weekly Journal (1733) to provide a dissident political voice. The paper consistently criticized the governor, and Zenger was arrested (1734) for criminal libel. Determined to secure Zenger's conviction, the authorities disbarred his attorneys, but his case was eventually defended by Andrew Hamilton of Philadelphia, who argued that Zenger's articles were not libelous because they were based on fact. Zenger was acquitted (1735) and published a verbatim account of the trial as A Brief Narrative of the Case and Trial of John Peter Zenger (1736).

See also: Press.