The Indiana Publisher

Publisher The Indiana Volume 84, Issue 8 • August 2019 Published on second Thursday monthly John Peter Zenger spent months in a jail cell accused of libel. The German immigrant and printer of the New York Weekly Journal published critiques of the state's colonial governor. While he was locked away, his wife Anna, the first woman printer and publisher in the colonies, kept the paper's presses rolling. It was the 1730s and the story of a newspaper and its printer making a brave stand for press rights unfolded decades before the First Amend- ment. At the time, Zenger wrote: "We will fight with words and facts to make sure every citizen can speak and write the truth!" When Zenger was acquitted, he became a symbol for press freedom and the trial laid the groundwork for what would later become the First Amendment and the Bill of Rights. "That moment explains the whole First Amendment, the birth of the First Amendment, how important and critical it was to the founding of the country and how much newspa- pers played a part in it," said Donna Griffin, author of a graphic novel chronicling Zenger's pivotal one-day trial. Griffin teamed up with artist Gary Varvel who illustrated the 48-page book, "The Birth of the First Amendment," aimed at educating young readers. "I have been thinking about the story of the Zenger trial for a while." Griffin said. "I've been want- ing to do a series of children's books that really spoke to people about being a journalist." Graphic novel aims to educate youth on First Amendment Register Now! Advertising Conference, Awards Banquet, Sept. 13 • Better Newspaper Awards Banquet, Sept. 14. Registration info available at https://www.hspa.com/events-and-deadlines/ See Novel, page 8 Brain Swell Media founder Ryan Dohrn will return to the 2019 HSPA Advertising Conference to offer practical, innovative and inspirational ad sales advice. Dohrn will be offering two sessions, "Creating Newspaper Proposals that Close Deals!" and "7 Ways to Sell Newspaper Ads Like a Pro!" For the session on propos- als, Dohrn said people are in an unproductive, vicious cycle that needs to be broken. "If we keep selling traditional media in traditional ways we're going to get traditional results," he said. "It's the classic definition of insanity that has been around for years. And for some reason we've allowed it to become the new normal — and we have to break Sales coach Ryan Dohrn returns for Ad Conference Ryan Dohrn leads a sales training workshop session at the 2018 HSPA Advertising Conference in Indianapolis. "We will fight with words and facts to make sure every citizen can speak and write the truth!" John Peter Zenger, newspaper printer, writer "I thought: 'This would be so cool to have journalists as superheros, to have people in history be superheros.' " Donna Griffin, author, "The Birth of the First Amendment" See Dohrn, page 8 In light of the 2019 General Assembly's near elimination of the publication of sheriff's sale (mortgage foreclosure) notices in Indiana newspapers, Hoosier State Press Association Board of Directors President Pat Lanman has issued a call for publishers to attend a summit on the preserva- tion of public notice advertising to be held on Friday, Sept. 13, in conjunction with the Annual Publishers' summit called for Sept. 13 to address preserving public notice ads See Summit, page 9 "If there was one class that I've taught, this is the one that people need to see." Ryan Dohrn, sales coach, founder of Brain Swell Media

• Cover