{"id":1999562,"date":"2023-08-13T19:28:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-13T23:28:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/first-amendment-concerns-raised-after-police-seize-materials-from-small-town-kansas-newspaper-office-and-staff-homes-during-raid\/"},"modified":"2023-08-13T19:30:15","modified_gmt":"2023-08-13T23:30:15","slug":"first-amendment-concerns-raised-after-police-seize-materials-from-small-town-kansas-newspaper-office-and-staff-homes-during-raid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/first-amendment-concerns-raised-after-police-seize-materials-from-small-town-kansas-newspaper-office-and-staff-homes-during-raid\/","title":{"rendered":"First Amendment concerns arise as police seize materials from Kansas newspaper office and staff homes during raid."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">34<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffirst-amendment-concerns-raised-after-police-seize-materials-from-small-town-kansas-newspaper-office-and-staff-homes-during-raid%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1999562&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>A \u2063Small-Town Newspaper in Kansas Faces First Amendment Questions After Police Raid<\/h2>\n<p>A small-town newspaper in Kansas\u200b is raising First Amendment questions \u200bon a national level after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/uae-sentences-arab-israeli-woman-to-death-for-one-pound-of-cocaine\/\" title=\"UAE Sentences Arab Israeli Woman to Death for One Pound of Cocaine\">local police raided<\/a>\u200d its office and\u200c homes of \u200cstaffers on Friday,\u200c seizing material \u2062linked to alleged identity theft violations.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;Our first priority is to \u200dbe able to\u2064 publish next week. But we \u200calso want to make\u200b sure no other news organization is\u2064 ever exposed to\u2062 the\u200d Gestapo tactics\u2062 we witnessed \u2064today.&#8221; &#8211; Eric Meyer, co-owner \u2063and publisher of Marion County Record<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The Marion\u2063 County Record, a\u200d family-owned\u200c weekly \u200bnewspaper published in the midwestern\u200c state \u200cabout 60 miles north of Wichita, was\u200c named in \u2064a \u2064search warrant signed by Marion County Court \u2063Magistrate Judge Laura Viar \u200don \u2062Friday morning, which alleges \u2063violations of identity theft and \u2064&#8221;unlawful acts concerning computers.&#8221; \u2064CNN \u200d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2023\/08\/13\/us\/kansas-marion-county-newspaper-police-raid\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Eric Meyer, co-owner and publisher of the\u200b paper founded \u200bmore than\u200b 150 years \u200dago \u200din the small city of \u2063Marion, reportedly said four Marion \u200dpolice officers and three sheriff&#8217;s \u2064<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/first-amendment-concerns-raised-after-police-seize-materials-from-small-town-kansas-newspaper-office-and-staff-homes-during-raid\/\" title=\"First Amendment concerns arise as police seize materials from Kansas newspaper office and staff homes during raid.\">deputies seized personal cell phones<\/a>, computers, and\u2062 other materials at \u2064his \u2063home and Marion County Record office, including some unrelated \u200dequipment needed to publish.<\/p>\n<p>Reporter Deb Gruver\u200b wrote in a post\u200d on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/deb.gruver\/posts\/pfbid02kTfHmRnP48mknEmNKywchzNT2oMH7ctYsJWD6TZCFxcV1mHgzuGfDPzyzcQFuvrZl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> she had filed a report with the \u200dKansas Bureau of Investigation that accused \u2063Marion, Kansas Police Chief\u2063 Gideon Cody\u200b of re-injuring\u200c a previously dislocated finger\u200b after he allegedly &#8220;forcibly yanked&#8221; her cell phone from her hand.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities also searched the home of its \u200c98-year-old co-owner Joan Meyer, who died less than 24 hours later \u2014\u200b after she collapsed from hours of \u2064&#8221;shock and grief&#8221; that \u2062caused her to\u2063 lose sleep \u2062and not\u2064 eat,\u200b the newspaper <a href=\"http:\/\/marionrecord.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Identity Theft Allegations and Press Freedom Concerns<\/h3>\n<p>According \u2062to the search warrant <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/police-in-kansas-execute-chilling-raid-on-small-town-newspaper-seizing-phones-and-computers-5461508\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a> by The\u200d Epoch Times,\u2062 the judge authorized police to seize material related\u2064 to identity theft\u200c allegations of Kari Newell, a\u200c local coffee shop business owner. The newspaper reportedly received a tip that Newell allegedly\u200c drives without a valid driver&#8217;s license after a traffic offense in 2008.<\/p>\n<p>Although \u2063a reporter verified the information, Meyer told \u2063 <a href=\"https:\/\/kansasreflector.com\/2023\/08\/11\/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-marion-county-newspaper-seizing-computers-records-and-cellphones\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">local media<\/a> \u200dhe decided not \u2062to publish the \u200cstory. Instead, he notified the police based on suspicions of being\u2064 set up by an unknown source.\u200d When authorities contacted Newell, she allegedly\u200c accused the Record at\u200c a \u2063city\u2064 council meeting of illegally obtaining and disseminating personal information that\u200c only law enforcement, private investigators, and insurance \u2063agencies could access.<\/p>\n<p>Meyer then published an article sequencing the timeline of events on Thursday, less than 24 hours before police executed the search warrant.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Not only did they have information that was illegal\u2064 for \u200dthem to \u2063obtain in the manner in which they did, but they sent \u2064it out as well,&#8221; Newell told CNN, adding the paper \u200dpublished\u200c the story\u200c &#8220;strictly out \u200dof\u2064 malice\u200c and retribution\u2064 for me asking him to exit my establishment.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, \u2063the publisher\u200c said\u200d he and reporter Phyllis Zorn \u2062went\u2064 to Newell&#8217;s coffee\u200b shop for a public meeting\u200c event \u2064with US\u200c Representative \u2062Jake LaTurner (R-KS) but\u2063 were told to leave \u2064by\u2064 the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/final-victim-found-in-tenn-flooding-search\/\" title=\"Final victim found in Tenn. flooding search\">local police chief<\/a> at\u200c the request of Newell.<\/p>\n<p>Newell reportedly said she asked Meyer and Zorn to leave out of concerns the constituents would face the risk of being misquoted by the Record, which she said: &#8220;has a long-standing reputation for twisting and contorting comments\u2064 within our community.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Newell \u200cdescribed the situation to The New York Times as the\u200b Record violating\u200b her privacy rights \u2062instead of exercising the First \u2063Amendment.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a huge\u200d difference between vindictive and vindication,&#8221; Newell <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/08\/13\/business\/media\/kansas-marion-newspaper-police-raid.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a>. &#8220;I firmly believe that\u200c this was a vindictive move, full of malice. And I hope, in the end, \u2062I receive vindication.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>Legal \u2062and Ethical Concerns<\/h3>\n<p>But \u200cMeyer\u200b reportedly \u2064plans \u2064on \u200csuing the city of Marion and the \u200dindividuals\u200b involved in the raid while raising constitutional concerns \u2064that federal law\u2064 protects\u200c authorities from searching and seizing materials from\u200b journalists.<\/p>\n<p>Although authorities \u200btypically need to obtain a \u2064subpoena to \u2063seize materials, Marion County police chief Cody told CNN that there are exceptions in\u2063 limited circumstances to bypass a subpoena when &#8220;there is reason\u200b to believe the\u2063 journalist is taking part in the underlying wrongdoing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I believe when the\u2064 rest of the story is available to the \u2062public,\u2062 the judicial system that is\u2062 being questioned will be vindicated,&#8221;\u200d Cody told \u2064The New York Times.<\/p>\n<p>Emily Bradbury,\u2063 executive director of the Kansas Press Association, called the move a dangerous attack on press freedom in the US.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a lot of healthy \u2063tension between the government and newspapers, but this?&#8221; Bradbury told The New York Times. \u200d&#8221;This is not right, this \u2064is wrong, this cannot be\u200b allowed to stand.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Seth Stern, director of advocacy for \u200bFreedom of the Press \u200cFoundation, told CNN the raid appears to have\u200d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/federal-judge-in-texas-stops-biden-deportation-freeze\/\" title=\"Federal judge in Texas stops Biden deportation freeze\">violated federal law<\/a> and\u2063 is &#8220;the latest example of American law enforcement\u200b officers treating the press in a manner previously associated with authoritarian regimes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Based on the reporting so\u200b far, the\u200c police\u2064 raid of the Marion County \u200dRecord on Friday appears to have violated federal law, the First Amendment, and basic human \u200cdecency. Everyone involved should be ashamed\u2062 of themselves,&#8221; Stern\u2062 said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Kansas small-town newspaper is sparking national First Amendment concerns. Local police raided the office and homes of Marion County Record&#8217;s staff, confiscating materials related to alleged identity theft violations. This family-owned weekly newspaper, situated about 60 miles north of Wichita, is now at the center of a larger debate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":429,"featured_media":1999563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1999562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1999562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/429"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1999562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1999562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1999563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1999562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1999562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1999562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}