A Chilling Violation of Press Freedoms in Marion, Kansas
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 25 August 2023
⏱️ 31 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
Earlier this month, there was big trouble in little Marion, Kansas, where an entire police department raided the offices of the Marion County Record, a small, family-owned newspaper about 60 miles north of Wichita, with seven employees and a circulation of about 4,000.
To discuss this alarming violation of press freedom, Lawfare Managing Editor Tyler McBrien sat down with Caitlin Vogus, Deputy Director of Advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation. They talked about what motivated the raid, how it went down, and the chilling effect this kind of thing can have on small town newspapers and big media organizations alike. They also discussed what journalists—from lone freelancers to sizable newsrooms—can do to protect themselves from all manner of press freedom violations.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The following podcast contains advertising to access an ad-free version of the LawFair |
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| 0:25.6 | no bull and the aftermath. |
| 0:34.0 | The raid sends a really chilling message to the reporters not just at the record, but |
| 0:39.5 | Kansas in general and really throughout the country. |
| 0:42.2 | It sends a message that if you investigate a story that the police or the prosecutor |
| 0:47.8 | or a powerful member of the community don't like, the authorities may target you. |
| 0:55.4 | And that's very chilling for reporters who are called on every day to look into instances |
| 1:01.1 | of misconduct or wrongdoing and to report on things that are probably going to make |
| 1:05.0 | some people angry. |
| 1:06.7 | And thankfully here, the reporters at the record haven't been chilled and have continued |
| 1:10.2 | to do their great reporting even after the raid. |
| 1:13.0 | As well as other reporters in Kansas, I have to say it was amazing to see the Kansas Press |
| 1:17.5 | Association and other news outlets and Kansas step up their reporting about Marion and |
| 1:23.0 | things happening in the community after the raid. |
| 1:25.8 | But journalists around the country will surely be looking at this and wondering, could my |
| 1:30.9 | newsroom be rated if I report on something sensitive? |
| 1:33.8 | Do I need to worry about this? |
| 1:36.2 | I'm Tyler McBrighan, Managing Editor of LawFair, and this is the LawFair podcast, August |
| 1:41.0 | 25th, 2023. |
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