Free Press Free Kansas

One of the greatest dangers to this nation is our loss of freedom and what contributes to that is that so many people can’t recognize when our freedom is under attack, such as your right to vote or a women’s right to make decisions over her own body. But another that’s in danger is the freedom of the press because the media is not very popular and there are so many people who support attacks on a free press. One of those attacks occurred last Friday in Marion, Kansas.

The Marion County Record, a family-owned paper with a circulation of about 4,000, was raided by police last Friday. Additionally, the cops raided the homes of the owner, a semi-retired editor, and a city councilwoman. The cops seized computers, servers, and cell phones. Why did they do this?

The searches appeared to be linked to a document the newspaper received about a local restaurant owner. Eric Meyer, the owner/editor of the Record, said the newspaper did not publish an article about the government record, though it had received the document from a confidential source and that one of its reporters had verified its authenticity using the state’s records available online.

News outlets receive information, including documents, from confidential and anonymous sources all the time. Usually, when a government agency objects to the information a news outlet has received, they try to get a court-ordered subpoena to resolve the situation. Sometimes they try to shut down a story, other times they want to discover who the source is, and it other times it’s just an attempt to harass the publication. What they don’t do is raid the offices of a news outlet. That’s illegal.

This all might have begun after a meet-and-greet with local congressman, Jake LaTurner (a Republican and MAGA goon), at Kari’s Kitchen, an establishment owned by Kari Newell. Newell asked the police to remove Meyer and reporter Phyllis Zorn from the event because MAGA goons oppose information being open to the public, especially if it’s about MAGA government officials. After the Record published an article about the event, Zorn received a tip through Facebook Messenger that included a letter to Newell from the Kansas Department of Revenue detailing the steps she needed to take to restore her driver’s license, which had been suspended after a drunken driving citation in 2008.

At a City Council meeting seeking approval to operate a liquor-serving establishment, Newell accused the Record of illegally obtaining the letter and giving it to a councilwoman, Ruth Herbel, whose home was also raided.

Newell later told the paper that the release of the information might have been related to her ongoing divorce proceedings.

A search warrant for the raid, issued by a judge roughly an hour before the search on Friday morning (which is the favorite time for jackboot thugs to kick in doors), mentions Newell and cited potential violations of laws involving identity theft and the illegal use of a computer. The latter, among other things, forbids using a computer “with the intent to defraud or to obtain money, property, services or any other thing of value by means of false or fraudulent pretense or representation.” But this doesn’t sound anything like identity theft or illegal use of a computer.

There is no evidence that the newspaper hacked into any government servers for this information. There doesn’t seem to be enough evidence for this search warrant. By all accounts, it seems the information was given to the newspaper. If the police need to find out where it came from, they should have sought a subpoena, not steal the newspaper’s computers, servers, and phones.

How was the judge so easily convinced to issue a search warrant for this raid? In the past, the Record had published an article questioning the chief of police’s work history. This can’t be personal, can it?

Seth Stern, advocacy director at Freedom of the Press Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for the rights of journalists and whistle-blowers, said, “You can’t say, ‘I’m allowed to raid the newsroom because I’m investigating a crime,’ if the crime you’re investigating is journalism.”

Despite what Donald Trump and other MAGAts claim, journalism is NOT a crime.

The police chief, Gideon Cody, and Newell argued that journalists are subject to search if they themselves are suspects in the offense being investigated. Newell said that someone had unlawfully used her identity to obtain private information about her online. And that’s just the kind of thing people get subpoenas for, not warrants for raids. The police chief and restaurant owner don’t seem to know much about the First Amendment.

Cody said, “I believe when the rest of the story is available to the public, the judicial system that is being questioned will be vindicated.” I believe it won’t and that Police Chief Cody may be looking at jail time.

More than 30 news organizations and press freedom advocates, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and CNN have condemned this action by the Marion Police and Chief Cody. I condemn it too.

I believe this will go to a higher court and not only should the chief of police be slapped for this, but so should the judge who granted him that kangaroo warrant.

Did someone break a law by getting information on Newell, the restaurant lady? Possibly, but police can’t raid a news outlet because of it. And if a law was broken here, it’s most likely the source, not the newspaper, its editor, or reporters.

The Russian government throws reporters off buildings who report actual news. North Korean news is entirely government-operated propaganda and even then, reporters disappear. In the United States, we had a president claim anything reported factual on him was “fake news,” and that journalists are “enemies of the American people.” We even have propaganda outlets in this country that are entirely voluntary, such as Fox News, Newsmax, One America News, The New York Post, Breitbart, etc, etc. Additionally, all my right-wing colleagues are more than happy to base their “work” on lies, conspiracy theories, right-wing MAGA talking points, and complete and total bullshit.

And in Kansas, if the cops don’t like your reporting, they’ll kick your door in and steal your shit.

Our rights to a free press are under attack and half the nation doesn’t care. I care. A threat to press freedom is just one of the many from a potential second Trump administration.

Music note: I listened to Pearl Jam and REM.

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