Kansas police and a small newspaper are at the center of a 1st Amendment fight after a newsroom raid
Kansas police and a small newspaper are at the center of a 1st Amendment fight after a newsroom raid
A small newspaper and a police department in Kansas are at the center of a dispute over freedom of speech after police raided the office of the local newspaper and the home of its owner and publisher.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The raids occurred in a town of about 1,900 people, nestled among rolling prairie hills, about 150 miles (241 kilometers) southwest of Kansas City, making the small weekly newspaper the latest to find itself in the headlines and possibly targeted for its reporting.
The newspaper’s surveillance video showed officers reading that reporter her rights while Cody watched, though she wasn’t arrested or detained.
Newell said she threw Meyer and the reporter out of the event for Republican U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner at the request of others who are upset with the “toxic” newspaper.
But the newspaper did run a story on the city council meeting, in which Newell herself confirmed she’d had a DUI conviction and that she had continued to drive even after her license was suspended.
A two-page search warrant, signed by a local judge, lists Newell as the victim of alleged crimes by the newspaper.
Cody defended the raid on the newsroom, saying there is an exception to the federal requirement for a subpoena — not just a search warrant — to do so “when there is reason to believe the journalist is taking part in the underlying wrongdoing.”
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