Recently the Marion County Record of Marion, Kansas was raided by police with search warrants because of the suspicion of wrongdoing in the form of identity theft. As a result computers, cell phones and documents were seized from the newspapers office and they even raided the publisher’s home.

It will be interesting to see what comes of this as it appears to violate the 1st Amendment that protects free speech. All though according to NPR, First Amendment experts have said the actions are potentially illegal under the Federal Privacy Protection Act of 1980, while others noted that the 2010 Kansas reporter’s shield law should also have prevented the seizure.

Since the raid was conducted there has been major support for the paper to have their property returned. According to NBC the property will be returned now that the warrant has been withdrawn due to insufficient evidence.

I know there is definitely more to the story as to why the raid was conducted in the first place and that will all come out later once the Kansas Bureau of Investigation has completed their investigation which they have taken over from the Marion Police Department.

My concern with this is if it will eventually set a precedent or has it already? Here at The Daily Iberian, I cannot imagine the local police department raiding our office to seize computers, cell phones and other materials. Things would have to get pretty bad to go from an inquiry about a possible identity theft to the actual raiding of a newspaper office. Presumably with insufficient evidence.

In my opinion this should not have happened and it makes you wonder what country we are living in. News of the raid gained international attention and overwhelming support for the paper from across the nation. This has resulted in more than 2,000 new subscriptions for the newspaper, many of which are digital.

Clearly there is strong support for local journalism and I think Thomas Jefferson said it best, “a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter”.

Back in January of this year I wrote a column about the importance of local journalism and I will share the last paragraph of that column here:

Newspapers tell the tales of our communities, the struggles and duties, the joys and triumphs. We bring news that matters and help readers see the world from a different perspective. Let us remember the importance of the press and local journalism. May it forever progress.

KEN HARTY is the Publisher of The Daily Iberian and Acadiana Lifestyle. You can reach him at kenh@daily-iberian.com