Officials in Marion County, Kansas, announced on Wednesday that they would return items that were seized from a newspaper under highly controversial, and likely illegal, circumstances.
Five police officers from the town and two sheriff’s deputies raided the offices of The Marion County Record last week, ostensibly to find evidence over whether the paper had illegally obtained information about restaurant owner Kari Newell, whom the paper had reported was driving without a license despite a prior drunk-driving conviction. Eric Meyer, the owner and publisher of the paper, maintains that the information was obtained legally through a confidential source, and notably, the city has not publicly provided any proof of their claims against the paper.
A search warrant was obtained from a district court magistrate judge, which may violate federal law — in cases like these involving journalists and publications where an illegal act is suspected, law enforcement is supposed to obtain a subpoena order instead.
The action was viewed by many in the community, and across the country as it made national headlines, as a retributive act by government officials to punish a paper over reporting it disliked, in direct violation of First Amendment principles of press freedom.
“Journalists rely on confidential sources to report on matters of vital public concern. Law enforcement’s sweeping raid on the Marion County Record and confiscation of its equipment almost certainly violates federal law and puts the paper’s very ability to publish the news in jeopardy,” read a statement from Shannon Jankowski, PEN America’s journalism and disinformation program director, about the raid.
The raid distressed Joan Meyer, a 98-year-old co-owner of the paper and Eric Meyer’s mother, so greatly that she couldn’t eat or sleep. She died one day after the raid occurred.
On Wednesday, Marion County Attorney Joel Ensey announced the original warrant was being withdrawn, stating that “insufficient evidence exists to establish a legally sufficient nexus between this alleged crime and the places searched and items seized.” Ensey added that the city will “work with the Marion County Record, or their representative, to coordinate the prompt return of all seized items.”
A lawyer for the newspaper called the move a “promising first step,” but said it wasn’t enough.
“We’re a long way from achieving justice. … It does nothing to cure the harm caused by the illegal search in the first place and regrettably it does not bring Joan Meyer back,” the paper’s attorney Bernie Rhodes said. “Someone has to pay for what occurred. This may stop the hemorrhaging, but it does not address the damages that occurred.”
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) said on Wednesday that a case has been started regarding the actions of city and county law enforcement officials and “remains open.” The investigation will be independent of those agencies and will happen “without review or examination of any of the evidence seized,” the KBI added.
In a statement regarding the city’s latest actions, the Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) said the decision to return materials, while a positive action, did not deserve praise, as the raid should never have happened in the first place.
“Authorities deserve zero credit for coming to their senses only after an intense backlash from the local and national media and an aggressive letter from The Record’s lawyer,” said FPF Director of Advocacy Seth Stern.
“Sending the entire police force to search a newsroom because journalists verified information from a source is an outrageous overreaction that threatens freedom of the press,” added FPF Deputy Director of Advocacy Caitlin Vogus.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy