John Peter Zenger

Johann " John " Peter Zenger ( October 26, 1697 *, † July 28, 1746 in New York ) was a German - American author and publisher. His acquittal on charges of slander in 1735 contributed significantly to the creation of press freedom in the U.S., which was constituted in 1776 as a human right in the Declaration of Independence of the United States.

Life

Zenger emigrated in 1710 with his parents from the Palatinate to New York. His father Nicolaus Eberhard Zenger died during the crossing with the emigrant ship "Queen Ann ". In New York, the boy was trained as a printer William Bradford. 1719 he married Mary White and settled temporarily with her in Maryland down. After the death of his wife in 1722, he returned back to New York, where he married on the same year Ann Catherina Moulin. In 1733 he founded, probably at the suggestion of some Quakers to the lawyer James Alexander, who sought a platform for their dissatisfaction with the new governor of New York Sir William Cosby, with the New York Weekly Journal a newspaper and a counterpoint to the pro-government page of his former teachers gentlemen, the New York Gazette. It now appeared written by anonymous authors, a number of authorities for unflattering articles. 1734 Zenger was tried and imprisoned for defamation of the Governor. This took strong political influence on the process, for example by the selection of two well-meaning judge him. Two defenders Zenger permit withdrawn during the proceedings. On August 5, 1735 the jury of the trial to the public surprise Zenger were not guilty.

With this judgment, the newspapers of the United States, the foundation stone was laid for press freedom in history. Since 1954, a prize will be awarded at the Institute of Journalism at the University of Arizona annually in memory, the title of John Peter and Anna Catherine Zenger Award for Freedom of the Press and the People's Right to Know bears date.