ABSTRACT
The professional journalists often express disdain toward anonymity in general. The Journal was among the first partisan newspapers in the New World. It was started by Lewis Morris and other New York politicians who disagreed with Governor William Cosby's policies and practices. The New York Weekly Journal was primarily a vehicle for anonymous letters espousing strong opinions against the colonial government in general, and specifically against the authoritarian administration of Cosby. One of the enigmatic editors was James Franklin, editor and printer of the hell-raising New England Courant of the 1720s. Projecting the classical ideal to "Hear both sides", Courant printed criticisms of his own writings, and also rebuttals to letters printed in previous editions. One of the readers spoke against locking up of the press eventhough it produces monsters, and adding that honest men, with clear reputations, will always be for preserving it open, as a sure sign of liberty, and a cause of it.
