Growing Independence
By 1721, however, the U.S. press had begun to assert more independence, as evidenced by The New-England Courant. That newspaper was published by James Franklin, and his little brother, Benjamin, wrote scathing critiques of the local government under a pen name. In fact, James Franklin was ultimately imprisoned after refusing to reveal who was behind those critiques. However, the paper’s critical tone helped make it popular, especially among more independence-minded citizens. That popularity encouraged other newspapers to take a more critical tone, and for new, even more critical publications to emerge.
This period was pivotal in that it helped to loosen the early governmental restrictions on speech and publication — which were the norm not only in the colonial United States but in many parts of Europe. Censorship made governments appear fearful and could actually intensify curiosity, speculation, and rumors. Moreover, publishers were sometimes able to evade orders by relocating their operations or simply changing the name of the newspaper.
More importantly, however, during this period, journalism became a vehicle for capturing and consolidating public opinion, and for conveying citizens' concerns to public officials. The expanding reach of journalism meant that public officials could no longer easily pretend to be unaware of the concerns raised in the growing publications. Unsurprisingly, however, those officials soon began to realize that establishing friendly ties with news organizations (by supplying editors with favorable 'news stories,' and sometimes even direct income) could serve their interests better than outright censorship. Additionally, new political party-sponsored newspapers also emerged during this time.
This period also saw the expansion of press freedoms. Proponents of the liberty of the press argued that unfettered expression was a matter of human dignity, personal self-fulfillment, and representative governance. A key example of this occurred in 1734, during the prosecution of John Peter Zenger. Zenger published articles in The New York Weekly Journal that were critical of the royal governor of New York, William Cosby, and Zenger was subsequently charged with making claims that were harmful to Cosby’s reputation. At that time, in England and its colonies, defendants were more likely to face a severe penalty if their claims were truthful. (The logic was that a more truthful claim was even more harmful to a person’s reputation than a false one because the allegations were, well, true.) However, Zenger’s attorney was the first to successfully argue that the press has "a liberty both of exposing and opposing tyrannical power by speaking and writing truth." This was a fairly novel argument at the time, and it captured the growing public support for independent and critical journalism. The argument’s success led to truth becoming a legally recognized defense against libel and defamation while further bolstering public support for freedom of the press.
A later example also captures the growing independence and power of the colonial press. To generate more revenue and maintain control of the press, the British government passed the Stamp Act of 1765. The Act imposed a tax on colonial publishers and required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London. The law was violently resisted in the colonies — it spurred cries of "no taxation without representation" — and the British government soon had to rescind it.
By 1775, there were roughly 37 weekly newspapers in the colonies. Those newspapers played a major role in defining the grievances of the colonists against the British government. Many of those newspapers, which were generally supported by different political factions, wrote in a highly interpretive, subjective manner. Moreover, they often wrote in support of independence. Put another way, during this period, the colonial press was hardly neutral. Additionally, it was loyalist newspapers that were being increasingly forced to shut down during this time, due to pressure — sometimes violent — from the colonists.