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Crime History: Case lays groundwork for freedom of the press

By Scott McCabe
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Crime History: Case lays groundwork for freedom of the press

On this day, Aug. 5, in 1735, New-York Weekly Journal Publisher John Peter Zenger was acquitted of libel against the royal governor of New York, in a case that laid the foundation for freedom of the press.

The court’s landmark ruling established that truth was a defense against libel.

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Scott McCabe