Kansas newspaper is talk of town, and not just for getting raided

The Marion County Record, a newspaper that reports on a small town of less than 2,000 people on the western edge of the Flint Hills in Kansas, turned into a First Amendment cause célèbre in the past week, after police officers and sheriff’s deputies raided its newsroom, an incredibly rare occurrence in American journalism. The authorities seized computers and phones, in what they said was an investigation into identity theft and computer crimes. ...

In interviews after the raid, many residents said they saw the police search not just as a stunning broadside against the press, but also as a natural, if unfortunate, outgrowth of rising tensions between the community and The Record’s coverage. Some described the weekly paper as too negative and polemical. “The role should of course be positive about everything that is going on in Marion, and not stir things up and look at the negative side of things,” said Mitch Carlson, who co-owns the local grocery store.

Mr. Meyer rejected that argument, saying the paper was just fulfilling its role as a watchdog with aggressive reporting, like covering City Council meetings that the public was excluded from or investigating the new police chief. He said the paper’s journalism made the town stronger. 

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