Law enforcement officers in Kansas raided the office of a local newspaper and a journalist’s home on Friday, prompting outrage over what First Amendment experts are calling a likely violation of federal law.
The police department in Marion, Kansas — a town of about 2,000 — raided the Marion County Record under a search warrant signed by a county judge. Officers confiscated computers, cellphones, reporting materials and other items essential to the weekly paper’s operations.
While this is otherwise pretty great reporting, I found this sentence incredibly weird
Without the devices, she was left unable to stream shows onto her TV or use devices if she needed help, the newspaper said.
One of those things is significantly more important than the other, since she died shortly after this raid. Just a weird sentence overall.
Not that weird if we’re talking about the quality of life of a 98 year old woman. “Healthy” at that age might look like spending a great deal of time in your favorite chair watching your favorite shows on the television. After almost a century on this planet, you get a little tired.
That’s a good point! Hadn’t considered it.
“If I can’t watch Andy Griffith this life ain’t worth livin.”
Local authorities said they were investigating the newsroom for “identity theft,” according to the warrant. The raid was linked to alleged violations of a local restaurant owner’s privacy, when journalists obtained information about her driving record.
Oberlander said exceptions to the Privacy Protection Act are “important but very limited.” One such exception allows authorities to raid a newsroom if the journalists themselves are suspected to be involved in the crime at hand. In a statement sent to NPR, Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody cited this exception to justify his department’s raid of the Marion County Record.
However
Several media law experts told NPR the raid appears to be a violation of federal law, which protects journalists from this type of action.
A bit of cherry picking there
But Oberlander said that exception doesn’t apply when the alleged crime is connected to newsgathering — which appears to be the case in Marion.
In America, there’s big city police. Then there is rural county police. The latter have the potential to get away with so much blatant violation of local/state/federal law. Checks and balances of power is nonexistent.
Doesn’t help that journalists and local newspapers have either vacated the region or bought by some VC/PE or larger media organization which guts the IJ division
Yeah there’s no corruption with big city police, is there? Internal investigations always come up with accurate conclusions and big city police are always held accountable for their actions.
Reading comprehension isn’t your strong suit, is it? At no point did they say big city police weren’t corrupt. They just said that small town cops have the potential to be so much more corrupt.
Removed by mod
