In the United States, freedom of the press dates back to the colonial times. In 1735, a printer named John Peter Zenger published an article. It criticized the Royal Governor of New York. What Zenger published was true. According to English common law it was a crime to publish criticism of the governor. Still, a colonial jury found Zenger not guilty. Decades later, the freedom of the press would be included in the First Amendment of the Constitution.
Photo Credit: Alfred Fredericks (American landscapist, figure painter, and illustrator, active 1853-1907, died 1926)/Alamy Stock Photo
