{"id":2000848,"date":"2023-08-15T03:15:57","date_gmt":"2023-08-15T07:15:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/media-giants-raise-first-amendment-concerns-over-police-raid-on-local-kansas-paper\/"},"modified":"2023-08-15T03:20:11","modified_gmt":"2023-08-15T07:20:11","slug":"media-giants-raise-first-amendment-concerns-over-police-raid-on-local-kansas-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/media-giants-raise-first-amendment-concerns-over-police-raid-on-local-kansas-paper\/","title":{"rendered":"Media giants express First Amendment concerns over police raid on Kansas paper."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/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%2Fmedia-giants-raise-first-amendment-concerns-over-police-raid-on-local-kansas-paper%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=2000848&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--><div data-post-content=\"true\" class=\"post_content\" id=\"post_content\">\n<p>Media giants raise freedom of the press concerns \u2063after police in the Kansas \u200dtown\u200d of Marion raided a local newspaper office and \u2063the home of its publisher last week, seizing equipment \u2062and \u200crecords.<\/p>\n<p>Marion&#8217;s police department was accused on Aug. 11 of violating\u200b First Amendment protections after \u2063officers raided the offices of the Marion County Record and \u2062the home \u2062of its owners.<\/p>\n<p>The raids on the family owned paper took\u200b place after a warrant was issued and signed by \u200ba local judge.<\/p>\n<div class=\"shortcode\">\n<div class=\"mb-4 mr-4 w-full max-w-[500px] border border-[#D3D3D3] px-5 py-4 text-[16px] leading-[20px] text-[#262626] md:float-left\">\n<div class=\"mb-3 font-sans text-[16px] font-semibold uppercase leading-[19px] text-[#2F2F2F]\">Related Stories<\/div>\n<div class=\"mb-4 flex gap-2\">\n<div class=\"grow\">\n<div class=\"mb-1 line-clamp-2\">\n            <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/epochtv\/police-raid-small-kansas-newspaper-and-publishers-home-sparking-first-amendment-controversy-5464329\">Police Raid Small Kansas Newspaper and Publisher\u2019s Home, Sparking First-Amendment Controversy<\/a>\n          <\/div>\n<div class=\"text-[14px] leading-[18px] text-[#737373]\">8\/14\/2023<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"shrink-0 basis-[120px]\">\n          <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/epochtv\/police-raid-small-kansas-newspaper-and-publishers-home-sparking-first-amendment-controversy-5464329\"><\/a>\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mb-4 flex gap-2\">\n<div class=\"grow\">\n<div class=\"mb-1 line-clamp-2\">\n            <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/elderly-owner-of-small-town-kansas-newspaper-dies-from-stress-after-police-raid-report-5463897\">Elderly Owner of Small-Town Kansas \u2064Newspaper Dies From Stress After Police \u2063Raid:\u200d Report<\/a>\n          <\/div>\n<div class=\"text-[14px] leading-[18px] text-[#737373]\">8\/14\/2023<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"shrink-0 basis-[120px]\">\n          <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/elderly-owner-of-small-town-kansas-newspaper-dies-from-stress-after-police-raid-report-5463897\"><\/a>\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mb-4 flex gap-2\">\n<div class=\"grow\">\n<div class=\"mb-1 line-clamp-2\">\n            <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/police-in-kansas-execute-chilling-raid-on-small-town-newspaper-seizing-phones-and-computers-5461508\">Police in Kansas Execute\u200b &#8216;Chilling&#8217; Raid on Small-Town Newspaper, Seize Phones and Computers<\/a>\n          <\/div>\n<div class=\"text-[14px] leading-[18px] text-[#737373]\">8\/12\/2023<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"shrink-0 basis-[120px]\">\n          <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/police-in-kansas-execute-chilling-raid-on-small-town-newspaper-seizing-phones-and-computers-5461508\"><\/a>\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The owner and publisher, Eric Meyer,\u2062 said on the \u2062newspaper&#8217;s website that four\u200c Marion police officers and three sheriff&#8217;s deputies participated in the two\u200c raids, seizing personal cell phones, internet routers, and\u200d computers.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Meyer said that the police also seized\u200c the newspaper&#8217;s file server and equipment that \u200bwas\u2063 unrelated to \u200dtheir search, \u2064but was needed to continue the paper&#8217;s operations.<\/p>\n<h2>Freedom of the Press Violated in Raid<\/h2>\n<p>The publisher told Axios \u200bon \u2063Aug. 14 that he\u2062 plans \u2063to file \u2062a federal lawsuit\u200b over the raid, which\u2063 he\u200d said contributed to \u2062the death\u2063 of 98-year-old his mother and \u2064co-owner, Joan Meyer.<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Meyer, \u200dwho was &#8220;otherwise in good health for her age,&#8221; died at \u2062her home Aug. 12, after becoming &#8220;stressed\u2062 beyond her \u200climits&#8221; over &#8220;illegal police raids,&#8221; he \u2062said<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our first priority\u200b is to be \u2063able\u2063 to\u2062 publish\u200d next \u200dweek,&#8221; said\u200d Mr. Meyer in a\u200c statement, &#8220;but we \u2064also want to \u2063make sure no other news \u200corganization is ever exposed to\u2063 the Gestapo tactics we witnessed today.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He plans to\u2063 file a suit &#8220;to \u2064establish a clear \u2064precedent that this sort of behavior cannot \u200dbe tolerated.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A reporter \u200dfor the Record\u200d stated\u2063 on Facebook that she\u2062 was\u2062 injured in the raid, which she called &#8220;chilling.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The chief of the Marion,\u200b Kansas Police Department, Gideon \u2064Cody, forcibly yanked my cell phone out\u2064 of my hand, so heads up that I will be without it (my phone, not my hand) for a while,&#8221; \u2062reporter Deb Gruver wrote on Facebook.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve filed \u200da report with the Kansas\u2063 Bureau \u200bof Investigation because a previously dislocated finger was re-injured,&#8221; she said, adding,\u200c &#8220;I thought I lived\u2064 in\u2062 the United States.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. \u200bMeyer told The New York\u2064 Times that\u2063 he had never experienced government pressure like this.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIf we don\u2019t fight back \u200dand we don\u2019t win in fighting \u2062back, it\u2019s going to silence everybody,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<h2>US Press\u2062 Community Protest Local Kansas\u200b Police Raid<\/h2>\n<p>The raid\u200c was widely\u200d condemned by major news organizations and journalism advocacy groups, who are \u2062supporting the Marion County Record, which has\u200b a circulation of about 4,000.<\/p>\n<p>Over 30 major news organizations and the Reporters Committee \u2063for Freedom of the Press (RCFP) wrote a letter to the chief of the Marion Police Department on Aug. 13, saying there &#8220;appears \u2064to be no justification for the breadth\u2064 and intrusiveness of the search.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;[T]he police raid of the Marion County Record on Friday appears to have violated federal law, \u2062the First Amendment, and \u2064basic human\u2064 decency,&#8221;\u200b said Seth Stern, \u200ddirector of Advocacy for Freedom of the Press Foundation, in a statement following the raid on the paper.<\/p>\n<p>The\u2064 media coalition and major \u2062press organizations argued that the \u200draids infringed on the paper&#8217;s rights and may \u200dhave violated federal law that restricts\u200c law enforcement&#8217;s ability to conduct newsroom searches.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are shocked and outraged by\u200c this brazen violation of press \u2062freedom by authorities in Marion County, Kansas. Local law enforcement agencies \u2062reportedly \u200bsearched the offices of the Marion County Record and\u2063 the home \u2064of its\u200c publisher, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/media-giants-raise-first-amendment-concerns-over-police-raid-on-local-kansas-paper\/\" title=\"Media giants express First Amendment concerns over police raid on Kansas paper.\">seized reporting materials including computers<\/a> and cell phones, injuring a reporter\u2019s finger in the process,&#8221; said\u200c the National\u200c Press Club in\u2064 a\u2064 statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are deeply concerned that \u200ca Kansas judge \u200cissued\u200b a search warrant authorizing this search even though the federal law clearly requires authorities\u2063 to use subpoenas \u2062rather than search warrants if they seek to access records of a news organization \u2062in \u2064the course\u2062 of an investigation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/8-hollywood-celebrities-who-actually-back-the-blue\/\" title=\"8 Hollywood Celebrities Who Actually Back The Blue\">law enforcement raid<\/a> \u200bof a newspaper office is deeply upsetting anywhere in the\u200b world. It\u200c is especially concerning in\u200b the United States,\u200c where we have strong and well-established \u200blegal\u200c protections guaranteeing the freedom \u2062of the press.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis search violated the \u200brights of the\u200b journalists\u200b at\u2064 the Marion County Record to serve their community by gathering and reporting the\u200c news. We stand \u200cby the Marion County Record in its\u2062 efforts\u200d to continue publishing despite the seizure of important \u200dreporting material and equipment.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We demand local authorities return the reporting equipment to the Marion County Record \u200cimmediately, and we expect a full\u200b investigation by \u2063appropriate \u2062state \u200band federal\u200d authorities into\u200d why this search warrant was requested, authorized and executed,\u201d the statement \u200dconcluded.<\/p>\n<h2>Well-Connected Figure\u200b Supported by Local Law Enforcement<\/h2>\n<p>The raids took\u2062 place following \u2064a complaint \u200dfrom\u2062 local restaurant owner Kari Newell, who \u200caccused the Marion County Record of illegally obtaining and disseminating sensitive information on a drunken driving conviction against her, reported the Kansas Reflector.<\/p>\n<p>The search\u200d warrant, which was viewed by The Epoch Times, identified several pages\u2064 of items that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/georgia-secretary-of-state-investigating-voter-registration-group-run-by-democrat-raphael-warnock\/\" title=\"Georgia Secretary Of State Investigating Voter Registration Group Run By Democrat Raphael Warnock\">law enforcement officers<\/a> were \u200ballowed to seize \u2063and was related\u2064 to Ms. Newell&#8217;s case.<\/p>\n<p>The paper responded that it had legally\u2062 obtained the information from \u200ba tip and \u200cused public online \u200drecords to verify \u2063details, but decided against publishing the information and instead contacted the police.<\/p>\n<p>However, \u200dthe\u200c paper still wrote\u2062 about Ms. Newell, confirming her\u200b conviction during a city council meeting, \u2063according to Axios.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the politically\u200c connected Ms. Newell also\u2064 had Mr. Meyer and a reporter, Phyllis Zorn,\u2064 removed from an \u200cevent at her restaurant last week with U.S. Rep. Jake\u2062 LaTurner (R-Kansas), reported the Kansas Reflector.<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Newall \u2064told The New \u200bYork Times i<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Media giants express concerns over press freedom as police in Marion, Kansas raid local newspaper office and publisher&#8217;s home, confiscating equipment and records. Marion&#8217;s police department faces accusations of violating First Amendment rights after raiding Marion County Record and the publisher&#8217;s residence on Aug. 11.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2296,"featured_media":2000849,"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":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2000848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"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\/2000848","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\/2296"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}