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Police raid of a Kansas newsroom raises alarms about violations of press freedom

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Re: Police raid of a Kansas newsroom raises alarms about violations of press freedom

#61

Post by A4ET8a8uTh0 »

the_optimist wrote: post #52
Kapura wrote: post #48

This is really, really upsetting to be happening in my country. I know it is a very big country, and Kansas isn't exactly proximate, but we are either a country that protects the press, or we are a country where the press protects those who have power. If this is allowed to pass without the people ordering the raid fired, I am not optimistic about what the future holds.

Our press doesn’t even protect the press at this point. We have all seen the tables pairing heads of each major news outlets with their respective political spouses, siblings, or parents. Gellhorn prize winner Julian Assange has been persecuted by the US intel complex for well over a decade. The choice is in your hands to continue to attribute credibility to institutions that may no longer merit it.

These days it is touted as 'public-private partnership' and it extends far beyond press.

Re: Police raid of a Kansas newsroom raises alarms about violations of press freedom

#62

Post by empath-nirvana »

hanniabu wrote: post #60
Kapura wrote: post #48

This is really, really upsetting to be happening in my country. I know it is a very big country, and Kansas isn't exactly proximate, but we are either a country that protects the press, or we are a country where the press protects those who have power. If this is allowed to pass without the people ordering the raid fired, I am not optimistic about what the future holds.

It's a bit naive to think there's freedom of press in this country (freedom to publish without retribution)

Freedom of the press is not freedom to publish "without retribution", and never has been. It is freedom to publish without _government_ retribution.

If you publish some awful stuff, other people are allowed to point out that you said awful stuff and there are consequences for that, and that's how it's supposed to work.

Re: Police raid of a Kansas newsroom raises alarms about violations of press freedom

#63

Post by dotnet00 »

xadhominemx wrote: post #56
the_optimist wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our press doesn’t even protect the press at this point. We have all seen the tables pairing heads of each major news outlets with their respective political spouses, siblings, or parents. Gellhorn prize winner Julian Assange has been persecuted by the US intel complex for well over a decade. The choice is in your hands to continue to attribute credibility to institutions that may no longer merit it.

The fact that a raid on a tiny kanas newspaper is a major national story is a sign that the press is pretty interested in protecting the press.

I disagree. All it shows is that national media outlets don't see the tiny newspaper as a threat.

They consider independent reporting (eg YouTubers) to be the main threat, thus why we don't really see them making national headlines out of their suppression and why they even go out of their way to exclude them from their definition of press.

Re: Police raid of a Kansas newsroom raises alarms about violations of press freedom

#64

Post by dfxm12 »

adventured wrote: post #57
Kapura wrote: post #48

This is really, really upsetting to be happening in my country. I know it is a very big country, and Kansas isn't exactly proximate, but we are either a country that protects the press, or we are a country where the press protects those who have power. If this is allowed to pass without the people ordering the raid fired, I am not optimistic about what the future holds.

It is a really big country and there's very little that can stop something like this from happening upfront. A corrupt person is always going to make it some distance before they're stopped, before the corrupt action gets enough sunlight on it. Said corrupt person isn't going to always make it easy to spot/stop, or easy to prosecute. You have to prosecute and pursue justice after the crime/s, not before. Justice is r…

We can't pretend this is the first time something like this has happened. The problem is we see this abuse of power all the time and no one pays the consequences. The problem is qualified immunity is baked in to our legal system, so it is all too easy for those responsible to evade justice.

Re: Police raid of a Kansas newsroom raises alarms about violations of press freedom

#65

Post by nimbius »

most of the stories im seeing so far are pretty one-sided, with Marion decidedly very quiet on the issue entirely for very good reason.

What was originally intended to be a show of intent, a brassy display of the sort of wheeling-and-dealing political life that has always existed in small rural towns has detonated with a spectacle not seen since the Beirut explosion. This is the sort of scandal that disbands police departments under consent-decree and sends your entire small town leadership from the city council up to the mayor out the door.

If the point was to ensure a coverup, you couldnt have done worse. constitutional transgressions like this have the ability to dissolve the Marion entirely.

Re: Police raid of a Kansas newsroom raises alarms about violations of press freedom

#66

Post by empath-nirvana »

LatteLazy wrote: post #42

As I understood it, the first amendment has been hedged to protect what papers can publish. But it does not protect how or where they get the information. The result is that courts and the police both can and will raid offices, seize materials etc. The only protections against this are (a) getting it published before you're raided and (b) whatever respect for the spirit of the constitution you can inspire in judges o…

> The result is that courts and the police both can and will raid offices, seize materials etc.

The police can and will do all kinds of illegal things, regardless of the law. It's up to the courts and DoJ, etc, to sort that out after the fact, there's not much anyone can do before it happens.

Re: Police raid of a Kansas newsroom raises alarms about violations of press freedom

#67

Post by gotoeleven »

xadhominemx wrote: post #56
the_optimist wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our press doesn’t even protect the press at this point. We have all seen the tables pairing heads of each major news outlets with their respective political spouses, siblings, or parents. Gellhorn prize winner Julian Assange has been persecuted by the US intel complex for well over a decade. The choice is in your hands to continue to attribute credibility to institutions that may no longer merit it.

The fact that a raid on a tiny kanas newspaper is a major national story is a sign that the press is pretty interested in protecting the press.

They are very interested in stories like this because this gives them the chance to work themselves into high dudgeon about a shitty little paper no one cares about. This way they have something to point to when they pull their "50 intelligence officials said this is russian disinfo" bullshit. "We're not unprincipled, self-serving, corrupt morons look how huffy we got about this tiny paper in kansas!"

Re: Police raid of a Kansas newsroom raises alarms about violations of press freedom

#68

Post by indymike »

This article: https://thehandbasket.substack.com/p/a-conversation-with-the... contains a detailed interview with editor of the raided newsroom. When asked about pulbic support, the publisher said he had a lot of support from out of town, but the locals... well:

"They're afraid. They're really afraid that the police power is unchecked, and that they can be punished like this."

Re: Police raid of a Kansas newsroom raises alarms about violations of press freedom

#69

Post by indymike »

plagiarist wrote: post #9
sixothree wrote: post #5

Checks and balances are needed.

I fear this will be another egregious violation of the Constitution ignored under qualified immunity. Prosecuting egregious violations of the Constitution instead of allowing police to do whatever they like would be a good check/balance.

> I fear this will be another egregious violation of the Constitution ignored under qualified immunity.

The police officers, individually can have qualified immunity. The governments that employ them do not.

Re: Police raid of a Kansas newsroom raises alarms about violations of press freedom

#70

Post by xadhominemx »

dotnet00 wrote: post #63
xadhominemx wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that a raid on a tiny kanas newspaper is a major national story is a sign that the press is pretty interested in protecting the press.

I disagree. All it shows is that national media outlets don't see the tiny newspaper as a threat. They consider independent reporting (eg YouTubers) to be the main threat, thus why we don't really see them making national headlines out of their suppression and why they even go out of their way to exclude them from their definition of press.

Social media algorithmic recommendation engines has also been a major story. Or are you talking about a US law enforcement raid on some YouTuber that was successfully covered up by Google?
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