Assignment on the Zenger Case

The Zenger Case has been a famous issue in American journalism since 1735.

Print them both. Bring them to class.

Then read this partial 'Zenger' transcript (from A Treasury of Great Reporting) and the articles by Price, Nelson and Plasterer.

* Read the Wikipedia page on John Peter Zenger for a little more information about this important case.

* You can also read about his newspaper, The New York Weekly Journal.

* There is a more recent article by Alison Olsen, "The Zenger Case Revisited," in Early American Literature 35,3 (2000). You can download it here.

* On the Croswell case (the subject of Plasterer's article) see this page on the case of "People v. Croswell" (and you may be interested enough to read the Wikipedia page on Harry Crosswell). This will bring Plasterer's article up to date for you.

Make sure that it's clear you HAVE read the articles! But otherwise don't summarize them, but give your own ideas and impressions.

Contemporary American libel law is now based on the famous case The New York Times Co. vs Sullivan. In the case of public officials, "actual malice" must be proven.

You can also read up on some famous, and recent, libel cases such as Westmoreland vs CBS (1982). There is no Wikipedia page for the famous case, referred to in the Westmoreland vs CBS Wikipedia page, of Sharon vs. Time Magazine, but you can read about it from the Newsday story here.

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Written Assignment: Write 350-500 words on the partial 'Zenger' transcript (linked above). Discuss it in the context of the Price, Nelson, and Plasterer articles, also linked above.