Just catching up on the Marion, KS, newspaper police raid? Here are 5 things to know

Update: Wondering when police can legally raid a newspaper like the Marion County Record? That story is posted here.

Police in the small Kansas town of Marion raided a local newspaper’s office Friday.

If you follow the news closely, you may have heard about it over the weekend — the story was picked up by national outlets like CNN, the Associated Press and the New York Times, with First Amendment advocates voicing concerns about the newspaper’s press freedom rights.

But what exactly happened in Marion, and why should we care? Here are five key takeaways to get you caught up.

What to know about Marion and its newspaper

Marion is a small town home to fewer than 2,000 people in east-central Kansas. It’s located about an hour’s drive northeast of Wichita and two and a half hours’ drive southwest of downtown Kansas City.

Known locally as the “town between two lakes,” Marion is also home to the Marion County Record, a weekly newspaper founded in 1869.

The paper publishes an issue every Wednesday and employs five reporters, one columnist and one editor — Eric Meyer, who also serves as the co-owner and publisher.

Why do police say they raided the Marion County Record?

The official reason given by police is that they raided the Record’s offices to determine where reporters found information about a local restaurant owner’s past DUI charge.

But here’s the thing: The newspaper already told police they got the information through a tip on social media. In fact, they reached out to the police department to fact-check the claim.

“We sent them a note saying that a source had given us a file that we thought had suspicious origins,” Meyer told The Star. He added that he told police to contact the newspaper with any questions. Instead, they got a warrant.

At a City Council meeting on Aug. 7, the business owner, Kari Newell, alleged her private information was “illegally obtained” by a reporter. The paper did not publish any information about the DUI.

“We checked it out to verify that it was accurate, but were not planning to do anything with it,” Meyer said.

Read more: After police raid at Kansas newspaper, KBI director says media is not ‘above the law’

New Marion police chief previously worked for the KCPD

The Record had previously investigated Marion’s new police chief, Gideon Cody. Cody had recently started the job after 24 years working for the Kansas City Police Department, where he reached the rank of captain.

Meyer declined to comment on the exact nature of the investigation, but characterized “the charges as serious.” The paper informed city officials of allegations against Cody, but had not published anything about them at the time of the raid.

Cody led the raid Friday based on a search warrant.

“I have already been vetted. They’ve (the newspaper) actually did a background on me. And that’s why they chose not to (publish a story),” Cody said in a Sunday interview with The Star.

“However, if they can muddy the water, make my credibility look bad, I totally get it. They’re gonna try to do everything they possibly can.”

Read more: Kansas newspaper raided, shut down by police had investigated chief who came from KCPD

Who else got raided over the weekend?

The Record’s offices weren’t the only place where police conducted searches and seized documents and electronics Friday.

The private home of Record editor and publisher Meyer was raided too, as was the home of Marion city councilwoman Ruth Herbel, with police taking phones, computers and documents.

Herbel called the seizures “ridiculous,” adding that police took her home’s only phone and frightened her 88-year old husband, who has dementia. She has since purchased a new phone.

Longtime newswoman Joan Meyer, Eric Meyer’s mother and a co-owner of the Record, was also shaken by the raid of her home. She died of a heart attack the next day. The Record attributed her death in part to the stress of the raid.

Read more: Police seized phone, computer from town official the same day as Kansas newspaper raid

What is the larger significance of these raids?

For police to raid the offices of a newspaper and seize journalists’ materials is exceptionally rare in the United States.

Press freedom advocates say that the warrant in this case was carried out illegally, arguing that the federal Privacy Protection Act requires documents from journalists and media outlets to be subpoenaed instead.

On Monday, the Society of Professional Journalists released a statement condemning the raid, adding that they are prepared to provide up to $20,000 in legal fees to help the paper challenge its legality.

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press also condemned the raid Monday, calling it “overbroad and unduly intrusive.” The organization’s letter was cosigned by 30 other news organizations, including the Associated Press, Reuters and the Kansas Press Association.

Read more: Raided Kansas paper’s lawyer demands police chief not review info from ‘illegal searches’

Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press letter by Ian Cummings on Scribd

The Star’s Glenn E. Rice, Judy Thomas, Luke Nozicka and Jonathan Shorman contributed.

Do you have more questions about the police raid this weekend in Kansas? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.