oedipus' online complexes

on this date in 1735, New York Weekly publisher John Peter Zenger was acquitted of sedition and libel charges filed by colonial new york's royal governor William Cosby, in the case of The Crown v. Zenger. Zenger's attorney, the philadelphian Alexander Hamilton -- who represented Zenger pro bono -- successfully defended Zenger by arguing that Zenger's articles were not libelous because they were based on fact.

this landmark decision is almost universally credited as the foundation of the United States' principle of the "freedom of the press" and for outlining the responsibilities of both media and government in a functioning democracy... and, so, today is one of my high holy days of obfuscation...