Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
You’ve probably heard the story by now. A small-town Kansas newspaper on Aug. 11 was raided by police who seized the paper’s computers and other electronic equipment.
Newspaper officials claim the raid occurred because they had been looking into the background of the local police chief and other leaders in the county of about 12,000 people. Police claimed they had information that the newspaper was gathering information illegally and invading individuals’ privacy.
Ironically, the newspaper reported little of the information it gathered in its pursuit of the public’s right to know. The paper itself reported concerns to police that a tip from a reader could have been obtained illegally.
The items seized in the raid were soon returned to the paper after the county attorney reviewed the search warrant and found “insufficient evidence” tying the newspaper to the alleged crime police said they were investigating.
Since the story broke, dozens of journalists have rushed to Marion County, Kan., where they have revealed at least some of the secrets the community leaders didn’t want the local paper to report on.
You can read all the details on the internet.
The greater concern is that law enforcement used its considerable authority in an attempt to bully and/or silence the community’s watchdog.
Journalists across the county responded as you might expect.
From The Kansas City Star:
“The raid was blatant overreach, not just illegal, but the kind of thing that seems unbelievable to many observers. As one of my colleagues who lives out of state said, ‘I thought it was a movie or something.’”
From The News Courier in Athlens, Ala.:
“The recent raid of a Kansas newspaper is unnerving in so many ways. It is an attack on the fundamental right of a newsgathering organization to exercise its First Amendment rights, and it sends a very dangerous message that if authorities don’t like what is being reported, they can just shut you down.”
From The Seattle Times:
The Police Department’s thuggish approach, abetted by the judge who signed the search warrant, shows why the Bill of Rights was needed to protect citizens from governmental abuse.”
From Dean Ridings, the chief executive officer of America’s Newspapers:
“The raid on The Marion County Record goes directly against the First Amendment rights that our country holds in esteem. Newspapers must be able to do their jobs without fear of reprisal or interference.”
And from the editor and publisher of The Marion County Record, Eric Meyer:
“This is the type of stuff … that Vladimir Putin does, that Third World dictators do. This is Gestapo tactics from World War II.”
And now from me, editor and publisher of The Eastern New Mexico News: “All of those journalists are right. The police actions were unconsciounable, almost certainly illegal, and every soul who believes in freedom of the press or freedom, period, should be outraged.”
David Stevens is publisher of Clovis Media Inc. Email him at: