The trail of John Peter Zenger?

Answer 1

The trial of John Peter Zenger, a New York printer, was an important step toward this most precious freedom for American colonists. Zenger was imprisoned when his paper published and article about a corrupt royal governor. He was found not guilty of libel by a jury. Although true freedom of the press was not known until the First Amendment, after this, newspaper publishers felt freer to print their honest views.

Answer 2

I think you mean the Zenger "trial." John Peter Zenger published a newspaper in New York during the time before the US was a free country. As a British colony, New York was under the control of British officials and censors. In 1735, Zenger wrote something negative (but true) in his newspaper, and he was imprisoned by the Royal Governor; he was charged with seditious libel, which could have ended in his execution as a traitor.

Fortunately for him, he hired a good lawyer and at his trial, the judge ruled that a journalist who tells the truth must not be punished for doing so, even if the truth is unpopular. This was, by most accounts, the beginning of the concept of Freedom of the Press, which was later enshrined in the US Constitution, under the First Amendment (the so-called Bill of Rights).

Answer 3

the zenger trail was the beginning of the free press.