The first independent newspaper published in the American colonies was the New- England Courant. James Franklin, older brother of Benjamin, published the newspaper in Boston in 1721. Several years later, Benjamin began a newspaper of his own, the Pennsylvania Gazette. The Gazette soon rose in prominence and was the pre-eminent newspaper in the colonies for many years.
While the Franklins published dissenting views in their newspapers, many others did not fearing lawsuits and arrest for "seditious libel" if they ran afoul the King’s representative – the colonial governor. In 1735, a New York newspaperman, John Peter Zenger, was arrested for seditious libel against New York’s Anglo-Irish colonial governor, Sir William Cosby. By all accounts, Cosby was one of the most oppressive of the colonial governors and was overly fond of suing his political and financial adversaries. He also got the shivers misappropriating private lands and public money. Beginning in 1733, Zenger wrote story after story in the New York Weekly Journal of Cosby’s foibles.
Despite an overwhelming case against him as well as a panel of judges handpicked by Cosby, Zenger, was acquitted by the jury. Nimbly represented by Alexander Hamilton, Hamilton argued that Zenger had not committed libel, because his news stories were based on fact – a principle now enshrined in US law. It was the first time in American history that a legal case was won not on the evidence, but by challenging the law. (An aside: the phrase “Philadelphia lawyer” may have come from Hamilton’s astute handling of the case.)
Following the Zenger case, there was a crackdown of the press. Independent newspapers became a thing of the past, as all newspapers were required to obtain a “royal warrant” from the colonial governor. One such “warranted” newspaper was published by John Handcock.
During the Revolution, freedom of the press was considered the most fundamental of liberties. The Virginia Declaration of Rights states, "the freedom of the press is one of the greatest bulwarks of liberty and can never be restrained but by despotic governments."
Freedom of the press is enumerated in the First Amendment of the Constitution. Freedom of the press is different from the other liberties enumerated in the Bill of Rights, because it exists not only as an individual liberty, but as an institutional one as well.
This most precious freedom was nearly lost to us in the earliest days of our Republic. The "Alien Sedition Acts" enacted during the Administration of John Adams, reintroduced seditious libel to American soil. The laws, there were four, made it illegal for the press to criticize the President or Congress. Amusingly, the Vice President was not named in the act and Thomas Jefferson, Adams’ VP, was buffeted by criticisms. Ultimately, the laws were overturned and freedom of the press was saved.
I bring this up, not as an interesting historical aside, but to provide a historical context for the dangerous comments uttered yesterday by Sarah Palin.
Governor Palin’s lack of familiarity with the fundamentals of the Constitution was extended yesterday to the Bill of Rights. Several weeks ago, Palin elucidated her flawed notions of what a vice president does – “She runs the Senate!” Errrr, no Sarah – and yesterday, she contended that the media’s critical reporting of her negative campaigning might be a violation of her first amendment rights.
The international Committee to Protect Journalists has confirmed the death of 713 journalists, editors, publishers and photographers since its founding in 1992. Many thousands more have been attacked or simply disappeared. These people died, because they told the truth and without a free press, no other rights are possible.
Does Sarah Palin support the killing of reporters? Hardly, her efforts to stifle dissent are more insidious. She believes her actions and her campaign should be above criticism. While one is far more brutal than the other, both smother critical debate.
As Walter Lippman wrote, "A free press is not a privilege, but an organic necessity in a great society." Sarah needs to go organic.
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| Freedom of the Press -- A Primer for Sarah Palin |
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