A police raid of a Kansas newsroom raises alarms about violations of press freedom

The offices of the Marion County Record sit across from the Marion County Courthouse in Marion, Kan., on Sunday. (John Hanna/AP)

John Hanna / John Hanna

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.

“It took them several hours,” Eric Meyer, the Marion County Record’s co-owner and publisher, told NPR. “They forbid our staff to come into the newspaper office during that time.”