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A Buddhist monk pauses at a news stand to read The Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Nearly 300 years ago, in 1733, a man named William Cosby was Governor of the colony of New York (now a state in the USA). Forty-three years before America's independence, the well-connected Cosby had been installed as New York's Governor by the Queen of England. Mr. Cosby was a corrupt man who is said to have looted treasuries, ripped off property owners and bribed legislators and judges. England's Foreign Office knew Cosby was a crook but needed to protect him lest they appear incompetent for appointing him.
Enter John Peter Zenger. The German born Zenger was a journeyman printer by trade who owned and operated New York's only independent printing press. Zenger learned the printing trade from William Bradford, a man who was contracted to print all official documents for the Governor, the New York Colony Assembly and the city Council.
Bradford played by the Governor's rules since he earned a good living from the contracted business while also printing New York's Gazette, the colony's only newspaper. The Gazette's content was controlled by the Governor's office and Bradford knew better than to rock his own boat by printing dissenting opinion.
When corrupt people hold high government positions, squeaky wheels always seem to begin turning before the government finds its grease so a group of New Yorkers decided to start a newspaper, a weekly called The Journal, containing news Bradford considered "unfit to print". Since Zenger ran the only independent printing press, it was left to him to print The Journal, a paper in which writers from opposition parties wrote about Cosby trying to rig elections, illegally fire judges and so forth.
The Journal also printed opinion about a new concept: a free press, and in doing so, became a new genre of newspaper for America. What was The Journal doing differently? In publishing news stories about government corruption, its articles explained that for the betterment and equality of all citizens, writing such pieces was important and justifiable.
Governor Cosby didn't like The Journal much so he had one of his henchman confiscate all the copies of the Journal and burn them on the steps of City Hall. The Journal of course told readers what happened in their next edition but Cosby had to figure out a way to silence The Journal. Since several of the paper's writers were anonymous, Cosby decided to arrest Zenger who, after all, was the paper's printer. During the nine months Zenger spent in jail awaiting trial on charges of seditious libel, Zenger's wife, Anna Catherine, printed The Journal, which she failed to print just once.
Since truth was not a defense against the libel of a public official in England or the colonies, the jury was only to decide if Zenger printed the "libelous material." The judge had no hand in determining whether the paper actually defamed Cosby. Due to more of Governor Cosby's chicanery, Zenger was temporarily without counsel until the colonies best lawyer, Andrew Hamilton showed up. He agued that the jury had the right to decide both the law and facts if it chose to.
Further, he argued that truth MUST be a defense against libel: "IF LIBEL IS UNDERSTOOD IN THE UNLIMITED SENSE URGED BY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, THERE IS SCARCE A WRITING I KNOW THAT MAY NOT BE CALLED A LIBEL OR SCARCE A PERSON SAFE FROM BEING CALLED TO ACCOUNT AS A LIBELER. MOSES, MEEK AS HE WAS, LIBELED CAIN--AND WHO IS IT THAT NOT LIBELED THE DEVIL?"
Hamilton said in his summation, "The question before the court and you, gentlemen of the jury, is not of small or private concern. It is not the case of one poor printer which you are now trying. NO! It may in its consequences affect every free man in America. It is the best cause. It is the cause of liberty ... your upright conduct this day will not only entitle you to the love and esteem of your fellow citizens-- every man who prefers freedom to slavery will bless and honor you ... as men who have baffled the attempt of tyranny and by an impartial and uncorrupt verdict have laid a noble foundation for securing for ourselves, our posterity and our neighbors that to which nature and the laws of our country have given us a right: The liberty of both exposing and opposing arbitrary power by speaking and writing the truth."
Hamilton refused a fee after the jury proclaimed Zenger "not guilty".
In matters of libel in America, the jury is the judge of both the law and the facts. This principle continues to underpin the American publishing industry to this day.
I shared this little tale with you because although most Americans know the story of John Peter Zenger, there may be a few Cambodian's reading this that are unfamiliar with him. In Cambodia, journalists are still murdered, papers are shut down and national TV news is censored. Further, people are jailed for reporting about what OTHERS SAY about government officials, a stark contrast to the principles that are set forth in the Zenger case.
Cambodia ranked 85th in Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2007 Worldwide Press Freedom Index, but that number deserves closer inspection. According to a November 7, 2007 article written by Salim Lamrani that appeared on the Centre for Research on Globalization's website, the 2007 index, laden with contradictions, is nothing more than a fraud…"
Lamrani claims, "Reporters Without Borders is not a reliable source" and receives funding from the CIA front National Endowment for Democracy (NED) as well as such entities as Center for a Free Cuba. Concisely, Lamrani theorizes that RSF ranks many countries much lower than where they actually should be listed and others much higher based on the prevailing winds of Washington D.C.'s foreign policy agenda and the money received by Reporters Without Borders from entities that support the plan.
In future posts I'll look for your feedback regarding Cambodge Soir's problems after citing a report prepared by Global Witness (GW) entitled Cambodia’s Family Trees, the murder of a Khmer journalist in Phnom Penh, a newspaper confiscation and a reporters arrest, so I felt that Hamilton's summation and Lamrani's comments might provide reference points for those who may want to look intently into the current state of press freedom in Cambodia and other Asian countries.
John Brown Photojournalist On LIGHTSTALKERS
My Mondo Library Photography
My Photoshelter Photography Archive Homepage
A Buddhist monk pauses at a news stand to read The Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Nearly 300 years ago, in 1733, a man named William Cosby was Governor of the colony of New York (now a state in the USA). Forty-three years before America's independence, the well-connected Cosby had been installed as New York's Governor by the Queen of England. Mr. Cosby was a corrupt man who is said to have looted treasuries, ripped off property owners and bribed legislators and judges. England's Foreign Office knew Cosby was a crook but needed to protect him lest they appear incompetent for appointing him.
Enter John Peter Zenger. The German born Zenger was a journeyman printer by trade who owned and operated New York's only independent printing press. Zenger learned the printing trade from William Bradford, a man who was contracted to print all official documents for the Governor, the New York Colony Assembly and the city Council.
Bradford played by the Governor's rules since he earned a good living from the contracted business while also printing New York's Gazette, the colony's only newspaper. The Gazette's content was controlled by the Governor's office and Bradford knew better than to rock his own boat by printing dissenting opinion.
When corrupt people hold high government positions, squeaky wheels always seem to begin turning before the government finds its grease so a group of New Yorkers decided to start a newspaper, a weekly called The Journal, containing news Bradford considered "unfit to print". Since Zenger ran the only independent printing press, it was left to him to print The Journal, a paper in which writers from opposition parties wrote about Cosby trying to rig elections, illegally fire judges and so forth.
The Journal also printed opinion about a new concept: a free press, and in doing so, became a new genre of newspaper for America. What was The Journal doing differently? In publishing news stories about government corruption, its articles explained that for the betterment and equality of all citizens, writing such pieces was important and justifiable.
Governor Cosby didn't like The Journal much so he had one of his henchman confiscate all the copies of the Journal and burn them on the steps of City Hall. The Journal of course told readers what happened in their next edition but Cosby had to figure out a way to silence The Journal. Since several of the paper's writers were anonymous, Cosby decided to arrest Zenger who, after all, was the paper's printer. During the nine months Zenger spent in jail awaiting trial on charges of seditious libel, Zenger's wife, Anna Catherine, printed The Journal, which she failed to print just once.
Since truth was not a defense against the libel of a public official in England or the colonies, the jury was only to decide if Zenger printed the "libelous material." The judge had no hand in determining whether the paper actually defamed Cosby. Due to more of Governor Cosby's chicanery, Zenger was temporarily without counsel until the colonies best lawyer, Andrew Hamilton showed up. He agued that the jury had the right to decide both the law and facts if it chose to.
Further, he argued that truth MUST be a defense against libel: "IF LIBEL IS UNDERSTOOD IN THE UNLIMITED SENSE URGED BY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, THERE IS SCARCE A WRITING I KNOW THAT MAY NOT BE CALLED A LIBEL OR SCARCE A PERSON SAFE FROM BEING CALLED TO ACCOUNT AS A LIBELER. MOSES, MEEK AS HE WAS, LIBELED CAIN--AND WHO IS IT THAT NOT LIBELED THE DEVIL?"
Hamilton said in his summation, "The question before the court and you, gentlemen of the jury, is not of small or private concern. It is not the case of one poor printer which you are now trying. NO! It may in its consequences affect every free man in America. It is the best cause. It is the cause of liberty ... your upright conduct this day will not only entitle you to the love and esteem of your fellow citizens-- every man who prefers freedom to slavery will bless and honor you ... as men who have baffled the attempt of tyranny and by an impartial and uncorrupt verdict have laid a noble foundation for securing for ourselves, our posterity and our neighbors that to which nature and the laws of our country have given us a right: The liberty of both exposing and opposing arbitrary power by speaking and writing the truth."
Hamilton refused a fee after the jury proclaimed Zenger "not guilty".
In matters of libel in America, the jury is the judge of both the law and the facts. This principle continues to underpin the American publishing industry to this day.
I shared this little tale with you because although most Americans know the story of John Peter Zenger, there may be a few Cambodian's reading this that are unfamiliar with him. In Cambodia, journalists are still murdered, papers are shut down and national TV news is censored. Further, people are jailed for reporting about what OTHERS SAY about government officials, a stark contrast to the principles that are set forth in the Zenger case.
Cambodia ranked 85th in Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2007 Worldwide Press Freedom Index, but that number deserves closer inspection. According to a November 7, 2007 article written by Salim Lamrani that appeared on the Centre for Research on Globalization's website, the 2007 index, laden with contradictions, is nothing more than a fraud…"
Lamrani claims, "Reporters Without Borders is not a reliable source" and receives funding from the CIA front National Endowment for Democracy (NED) as well as such entities as Center for a Free Cuba. Concisely, Lamrani theorizes that RSF ranks many countries much lower than where they actually should be listed and others much higher based on the prevailing winds of Washington D.C.'s foreign policy agenda and the money received by Reporters Without Borders from entities that support the plan.
In future posts I'll look for your feedback regarding Cambodge Soir's problems after citing a report prepared by Global Witness (GW) entitled Cambodia’s Family Trees, the murder of a Khmer journalist in Phnom Penh, a newspaper confiscation and a reporters arrest, so I felt that Hamilton's summation and Lamrani's comments might provide reference points for those who may want to look intently into the current state of press freedom in Cambodia and other Asian countries.
John Brown Photojournalist On LIGHTSTALKERS
My Mondo Library Photography
My Photoshelter Photography Archive Homepage
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