Police raid newspaper & home of 98 year old owner who then dies

[ColdHardTruth]

If you agree freedom of the press isn't meant to refer specifically to journalists, I'm not sure how you can say that "nobody is saying it is," while also saying that I've been wrong about this in two threads.

Yep, I called this one when it happened.

Now the chief is gone. He was suspended and then he resigned. The city is going to be paying out their buttocks over what the chief and his stormtroopers did.

This means he was given the choice to resign or be fired.

His POST certification needs to be shredded. His retirement needs to be cancelled and his benefits need to be cancelled.

 

[Grizzly Adams]

Yep, I called this one when it happened.

Now the chief is gone. He was suspended and then he resigned. The city is going to be paying out their buttocks over what the chief and his stormtroopers did.

This means he was given the choice to resign or be fired.

His POST certification needs to be shredded. His retirement needs to be cancelled and his benefits need to be cancelled.

I can't see what your commentary has to do with whether the press clause is meant to refer to journalists or to a general right retained by the public to publish whatever written information they choose.

 

[ColdHardTruth]

I can't see what your commentary has to do with whether the press clause is meant to refer to journalists or to a general right retained by the public to publish whatever written information they choose.

Why do you think the Nazi goon got fired?

There was a 1st Amendment issue raised and the city needed a scape goat; however, since the chief was being investigated, and led a raid, that looks even worse.

In any event, these events are related.

Freedom of the Press

www.history.com

 

[Peter]

I can't see what your commentary has to do with whether the press clause is meant to refer to journalists or to a general right retained by the public to publish whatever written information they choose.

Would that mean only people with a specific accreditation as a journalist can run stories about stuff?
Who would get to choose who has that power to publish?

 

[Grizzly Adams]

Why do you think the Nazi goon got fired?

There was a 1st Amendment issue raised and the city needed a scape goat; however, since the chief was being investigated, and led a raid, that looks even worse.

In any event, these events are related.

Freedom of the Press

www.history.com

But the content of the post you quoted was about a disagreement as to whether "the press" means journalists or the printing press (and printed matter in general). I still don't see what this update has to do with that conversation.

 

[ColdHardTruth]

But the content of the post you quoted was about a disagreement as to whether "the press" means journalists or the printing press (and printed matter in general). I still don't see what this update has to do with that conversation.

You're ducking. You need to stop.

As I explained, the police conducted an illegal raid. The stole information regarding confidential sources from the electronics they stole from the newspaper office.

This is a first amendment violation.

Read the source I posted in my last post. It explains this well.

 

[Grizzly Adams]

Would that mean only people with a specific accreditation as a journalist can run stories about stuff?

It certainly could be interpreted to mean that, if one accepts the notion that "the press" refers to journalists.

Who would get to choose who has that power to publish?

This is only one of the problems with the above interpretation.

 

[Grizzly Adams]

Your ducking. You need to stop.

Ducking what? You quoted my words, written in a specific context. Assuming rationality on your part, it is reasonable to assume you think the update is somehow relevant to that post.

I don't see it. And you're not doing a good job (or any job at all) in explaining it.

 

[Peter]

It certainly could be interpreted to mean that, if one accepts the notion that "the press" refers to journalists.


This is only one of the problems with the above interpretation.

The problem is if I got into power what would stop me from deciding all negative news about me breaks the rules.
I'm ok with slander rules and rules about publishing obviously false news but it's a huge slippery slope.

 

[ColdHardTruth]

It certainly could be interpreted to mean that, if one accepts the notion that "the press" refers to journalists.

Nope.

The First Amendment’s Press Clause ensures that everyone is protected in their right to disseminate information to the public. By favoring news media with a corporate structure, Washington’s law advantages the institutional press over citizen‐journalists. Such identity‐based discrimination is incompatible with the First Amendment. The Court should take this case and preserve the freedom of all the press.

 

[Grizzly Adams]

The problem is if I got into power what would stop me from deciding all negative news about me breaks the rules.
I'm ok with slander rules and rules about publishing obviously false news but it's a huge slippery slope.

Of course. And reserving some special rights for establishment journalists but not for others based on the proposition that "freedom of the press" protects only journalists is a problem. That was my point.

 

[Grizzly Adams]

Nope.

The First Amendment’s Press Clause ensures that everyone is protected in their right to disseminate information to the public. By favoring news media with a corporate structure, Washington’s law advantages the institutional press over citizen‐journalists. Such identity‐based discrimination is incompatible with the First Amendment. The Court should take this case and preserve the freedom of all the press.

I agree. I don't know what "this case" is, but for multiple reasons it should be firmly established that "freedom of the press" is a protection for all to publish whatever written information they choose and has nothing to do with protecting only journalists or with giving journalists extra rights.

 

[TU Curmudgeon]

I agree. I don't know what "this case" is, but for multiple reasons it should be firmly established that "freedom of the press" is a protection for all to publish whatever written information they choose and has nothing to do with protecting only journalists or with giving journalists extra rights.

Your interpretation is the only logical one. At the time that the US constitution was being ratified, the ONLY means of mass communication (at least further than a speakers' voice could carry) was by printing what you wanted to communicate and then distributing the product.

Of course, even back then, some people had no compunctions about using " the press" to circulate false and scurrilous statements concerning those that they didn't like.

The only thing that has changed is that there has been a vast increase in the means available to spread false and scurrilous statements (as well as true ones).

 

[Grizzly Adams]

Your interpretation is the only logical one. At the time that the US constitution was being ratified, the ONLY means of mass communication (at least further than a speakers' voice could carry) was by printing what you wanted to communicate and then distributing the product.

The logic is further cemented by the inability to point to a dictionary contemporary with the drafting of the Constitution that includes journalists as a definition of "press."

 

[TU Curmudgeon]

The logic is further cemented by the inability to point to a dictionary contemporary with the drafting of the Constitution that includes journalists as a definition of "press."

Indeed, and as "Journalist", as early as the 1690s, was accepted as meaning "one whose work is to write or edit public journals or newspapers," (emphasis added) anyone who was regularly (a rather fungible word) writing for public consumption was a "journalist".

 

[Juin]

But we can always trust the police, right? Right??

No, Phys, no! And no!

 

[Rumpel]

BACKGROUND

"Earlier this month, Meyer said he was at Kari’s Kitchen, a coffee shop Newell operates, for a public meeting event with US Representative Jake LaTurner, a Republican who represents the area. While it was a public meet-and-greet event, Meyer said he and his reporter, Phyllis Zorn, were asked to leave.

“I was standing in line waiting to get a drink at the coffee shop where we were and the police chief came up to us and said you’ve been asked to leave by the coffee shop owner,” Meyer said. “She said we don’t want the media in here, so they threw us out.”

Meyer said Zorn then received a tip about Newell allegedly driving without a valid driver’s license after a traffic offense in 2008. Newell said the Marion County Record unlawfully used her credentials to get information that was only available to law enforcement, private investigators and insurance agencies. “Not only did they have information that was illegal for them to obtain in the manner in which they did, but they sent it out as well,” she added. The Marion County Record published the article “strictly out of malice and retribution for me asking him to exit my establishment,” she says."

Link

THE RAID

"Police in a central Kansas town raided the local newspaper's office Friday and seized computers and employees' personal cellphones – an action that advocates say violates federal laws protecting the media.

Law enforcement officers with the Marion (Kan.) Police Department and the Marion County Sheriff's Office on Friday took the Marion County Record's computer file server, other computers and phones, along with other equipment, the Record reported.

A search warrant, posted online by non-profit news site the Kansas Reflector, was signed by Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar. The search warrant was approved by the judge citing probable cause that violations related to identity theft and unlawful acts concerning computers were committed. Police were approved to search for devices that were used to access the Kansas Department of Revenue records website and documents and records pertaining to Kari Newell."

Link

THE RESPONSE

"The ransacking and seizures, which include the Record’s file server, directly threaten the ability of the Record to publish. The computer equipment seized contained the stories and ads that were scheduled for next week’s paper. We could express our outrage at what is happening here. But we probably couldn’t say it any better than the 98-year-old Joan Meyer, a newspaperwoman since 1953: “These are Hitler tactics and something has to be done.” It turned out to be one of the last things she ever said. Mrs. Meyer complained of feeling upset and stressed by the invasion of her home when she spoke to us on Friday. Late Saturday, we received the sad news that she had collapsed at home and passed away.

THERE'S MORE!

"There could very well be more sinister motives in play here, involving the police chief himself. Cody was hired by Marion in April, after taking an early retirement from the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department, where he was a captain. According to Eric Meyer, the Record has been actively investigating the circumstances surrounding Cody’s departure from the KCMO department. Friday’s raid gives Cody and his subordinates access to reporters’ notes and materials from confidential sources who were interviewed as part of the newspaper’s investigation.

Read more at: https://www.kansas.com/opinion/editorials/article278199777.html#storylink=cpy

This is pretty wild story. It's not hard to figure that the chief is prijarily. interested in seeing the information the paper has collected about him.

strange doings

 

[Rumpel]

Sometimes politics in small towns is a dirtier game than even in large cities!

Human beings. Ugh!

sometimes,

 

[ColdHardTruth]

BACKGROUND

"Earlier this month, Meyer said he was at Kari’s Kitchen, a coffee shop Newell operates, for a public meeting event with US Representative Jake LaTurner, a Republican who represents the area. While it was a public meet-and-greet event, Meyer said he and his reporter, Phyllis Zorn, were asked to leave.

“I was standing in line waiting to get a drink at the coffee shop where we were and the police chief came up to us and said you’ve been asked to leave by the coffee shop owner,” Meyer said. “She said we don’t want the media in here, so they threw us out.”

Meyer said Zorn then received a tip about Newell allegedly driving without a valid driver’s license after a traffic offense in 2008. Newell said the Marion County Record unlawfully used her credentials to get information that was only available to law enforcement, private investigators and insurance agencies. “Not only did they have information that was illegal for them to obtain in the manner in which they did, but they sent it out as well,” she added. The Marion County Record published the article “strictly out of malice and retribution for me asking him to exit my establishment,” she says."

Link

THE RAID

"Police in a central Kansas town raided the local newspaper's office Friday and seized computers and employees' personal cellphones – an action that advocates say violates federal laws protecting the media.

Law enforcement officers with the Marion (Kan.) Police Department and the Marion County Sheriff's Office on Friday took the Marion County Record's computer file server, other computers and phones, along with other equipment, the Record reported.

A search warrant, posted online by non-profit news site the Kansas Reflector, was signed by Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar. The search warrant was approved by the judge citing probable cause that violations related to identity theft and unlawful acts concerning computers were committed. Police were approved to search for devices that were used to access the Kansas Department of Revenue records website and documents and records pertaining to Kari Newell."

Link

THE RESPONSE

"The ransacking and seizures, which include the Record’s file server, directly threaten the ability of the Record to publish. The computer equipment seized contained the stories and ads that were scheduled for next week’s paper. We could express our outrage at what is happening here. But we probably couldn’t say it any better than the 98-year-old Joan Meyer, a newspaperwoman since 1953: “These are Hitler tactics and something has to be done.” It turned out to be one of the last things she ever said. Mrs. Meyer complained of feeling upset and stressed by the invasion of her home when she spoke to us on Friday. Late Saturday, we received the sad news that she had collapsed at home and passed away.

THERE'S MORE!

"There could very well be more sinister motives in play here, involving the police chief himself. Cody was hired by Marion in April, after taking an early retirement from the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department, where he was a captain. According to Eric Meyer, the Record has been actively investigating the circumstances surrounding Cody’s departure from the KCMO department. Friday’s raid gives Cody and his subordinates access to reporters’ notes and materials from confidential sources who were interviewed as part of the newspaper’s investigation.

Read more at: https://www.kansas.com/opinion/editorials/article278199777.html#storylink=cpy

This is pretty wild story. It's not hard to figure that the chief is prijarily. interested in seeing the information the paper has collected about him.

The police chief in this case was fired and the equipment was returned. Lawsuits have been filed.

 

[TU Curmudgeon]

The police chief in this case was fired and the equipment was returned. Lawsuits have been filed.

And, quite justifiably, large sums will be awarded in damages.

In fact, the city might be ordered to resurrect Ms Meyer or fact further proceedings for "contempt".

(Hey, it's an American court so such a court order isn't TOTALLY out of the question.)