The Marion County Record in Marion, Kansas, a city of fewer than 2,000 people, hit the national spotlight last August when the town’s police raided the small, weekly newspaper’s office and publishers’ home and, in the course of lengthy searches, seized computers and cell phones. Marion County Record Publisher/Editor Eric Meyer’s 98-year-old mother, Joan Meyer, was in her home during the police action and died the following day.
During the raids Eric Meyer told officers, “You’re going to be on national news tonight.” His prediction came true, as reporters across the country covered the story and weighed in on an apparent breach of journalists’ constitutional rights. ...
Before returning to his hometown to run his family-owned newspaper, Meyer had been an associate professor of journalism at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for 25 years and previously worked in multiple capacities at the Milwaukee Journal (now Journal Sentinel). In this conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, Meyer speaks from his newsroom about his and his family’s long history with the Marion County Record and the current state of the paper, its legal conflicts and journalism itself.
