<P> One of the earliest cases concerning freedom of the press occurred in 1734 . In a libel case against The New York Weekly Journal publisher John Peter Zenger by British governor William Cosby, Zenger was acquitted and the publication continued until 1751 . At that time, there were only two newspapers in New York City and the second was not critical of Cosby's government . </P> <P> The First Amendment permits information, ideas and opinions without interference, constraint or prosecution by the government . It was adopted on December 15, 1791, as one of the ten amendments that constitute the Bill of Rights . </P> <P> The 1931 U.S. Supreme Court decision Near v. Minnesota recognized freedom of the press by roundly rejecting prior restraints on publication, a principle that applied to free speech generally in subsequent jurisprudence . The court ruled that a Minnesota law targeting publishers of malicious or scandalous newspapers violated the First Amendment (as applied through the Fourteenth Amendment). </P> <P> Freedom of the press was described in Branzburg v. Hayes as "a fundamental personal right", not confined to newspapers and periodicals . In Lovell v. City of Griffin (1938), Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes defined the press as "every sort of publication which affords a vehicle of information and opinion ." This right has been extended to newspapers, books, plays, movies, and video games . </P>

When was freedom of press established in america