Back on this date in 1734—that is, 272 years ago today—John Peter Zenger, a 37 year old journalist, editor, and printer who had emigrated to the colonies more than two decades before, was arrested for sedition and libel. His crime? He had published, in his New York Weekly Journal, criticisms of the colonial governor, William Cosby. This news is hardly hot off the press, but we will nonetheless mark the occasion. (来源：www.EnglishCN.com)

We’ll begin by answering a listener’s query about whether hot off the press originally referred to ironing or to typesetting. The answer is that hot has long had a sense meaning "newly made; fresh;" and that newspapers were once produced by hot lead or hot metal typesetting. Still, in the interest of accuracy, we admit we do not have a citation firmly pinning the origin of that phrase on the press.

Back to the man on the dock. Despite the fact that the judges were chosen by Governor Cosby, the 12-person jury declined to convict Zenger. Why? Because they believed the argument of his Philadelphia lawyer, Alexander Hamilton: if something is factual, it is not seditious libel. This instance of valuing truth over the less-than-desirable effects that might result from truth-telling is celebrated as an important step in establishing the rights of a free press in the colonies.