Kosovo journalists hear from publisher
Staff writer
Nine journalists from Kosovo, visiting Kansas through a program that fosters understanding between nations, came to Marion Friday to learn about last year’s raid on the Marion County Record and its effects.
Publisher Eric Meyer and Kansas Press Association executive director Emily Bradbury talked to the Kosovans at the Historic Elgin Hotel before the group came to the Record for a tour.
Meyer talked about reactions from the public, noting that members of each political party tended to blame the other.
“Thanks to people supporting us, we now have the eighth largest circulation in the state,” Meyer said.
He said the event wasn’t “just a police raid.”
Seven officers converged on his mother’s house. By comparison, when police raided the home of a suspected rapist, they sent only two.
“It was an attempt to intimidate,” he said.
Bradbury talked about her own reaction and hearing from other journalists about holding elected official accountable.
“We talked about limiting government overreach,” she said.
Special prosecutors waited nearly a year to release a report on the raid, and the only recommended charge was not connected to the raid but an alleged cover-up afterward, Bradbury said.
“Other newspapers in the state are looking at that,” she said.
Meyer noted that courts were reluctant to insist on police following decades-old laws forbidding searches because those laws never have been the subject of court rulings.
The Kosovans asked about lawsuits filed after the raids.
Meyer explained what motivated the raids.
Sent a copy of a businesswoman’s driving record, the newspaper attempted to confirm the information, he said.
“We went to the website and couldn’t find it,” he said. “We called the people who operate the website, and they told us how to get it.”
Meyer then told police the newspaper had gotten the document but didn’t plan to use it.
A few days later, police raided the newspaper office, Meyer’s home, and city council member Ruth Herbel’s home. She also had received a copy of the document from the same source who had sent it to the Record.
Meyer said he tried to reach Max Kautsch, the KPA’s legal consultant, as the raid was progressing, but he was not allowed to access his phone or computer. When he arrived at the newspaper, he was denied access to his office.
“People did try to tell them, this is not a good idea; don’t do it,” Meyer said.
Warrants approving the searches had been taken to the county attorney, who didn’t read them, passed to a district judge who wouldn’t look at them, and finally passed to a magistrate.
Meyer spoke about a slogan created by a then-candidate for mayor.
“Marion, we are stronger together,” he said. “Stronger together means nobody asks questions.”
Meyer said some Marion residents thought the newspaper was merely “pushing this thing forward” and should let the whole thing die.
The visit was coordinated by an organization called Friendship Force Kansas.” Friendship Force was begun in 1977 when Jimmy Carter was in office.