A small Kansas newspaper is getting backup from some of the world’s largest media organizations after an “intrusive” police raid Friday that saw its owner die in its aftermath. “Based on public reporting, the search warrant that has been published online, and your public statements to the press, there appears to be no justification for the breadth and intrusiveness of the search,” the letter from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press said, co-signed by The New York Times, CNN and other media giants, including the Associated Press and Bloomberg. The letter was directed towards the Marion Police Department, a small division that on Friday raided the offices of the Marion County Record newspaper, one of its reporters’ homes and the home of its 98-year-old owner—who collapsed and died the following day. “We urge you to immediately return the seized material to the Record, to purge any records that may already have been accessed, and to initiate a full independent and transparent review of your department’s actions,” the letter said.
