photo by: Submitted photo

Eric Meyer, editor of the Marion County Record, will accept the William Allen White Foundation National Citation on behalf of the newspaper at a University of Kansas ceremony in April.

A Kansas newspaper that became a national rallying cry for journalism after its offices were raided by a small-town police force will receive one of the nation’s top journalism awards at KU this spring.

The Marion County Record will receive the 2024 William Allen White Foundation National Citation at a ceremony on April 11 at the Kansas Memorial Union.

The weekly newspaper will become the first organization, rather than an individual, to win the award, which is chosen by the trustees of the William Allen White Foundation that is based at KU and honors the famed 20th-century editor of the Emporia Gazette.

“To be mentioned in the same breath as the great journalists who have received this award is an honor beyond comprehension,” Eric Meyer, the editor of the Marion County Record, said in a press release. “It’s an important motivator to our staff as it continues to struggle to serve as an example for community journalists facing intimidation. This honor — especially being the first news organization selected for the award — has given us a much-needed second wind to continue.”

Past recipients of the award include Walter Cronkite, Bob Woodward, Leonard Pitts Jr., Gerald F. Seib, Martin Baron, Sally Buzbee, Cokie Roberts and many others since the award began in 1950.

Meyer will give an address at 3 p.m. on April 11 as part of the award ceremony, which is free and open to the public.

In August, city police officers raided both the offices of the newspaper and Meyer’s home, which he shared with his mother, who served as an owner and publisher of the newspaper. The raid, which included a search warrant to seize computers and cell phones, came after reporting the newspaper had done on a local business owner who took exception to the coverage. The newspaper, among others, also had been looking into the background of the police chief and why he had left his previous job.

Law enforcement officials said they conducted the raid because they believed the newspaper had illegally obtained information about the business owner’s legal history. Local authorities ultimately backed down and returned the newspaper’s materials. However, in the interim, the newspaper’s 98-year old editor emeritus, Joan Meyer, died shortly after police officers raided her home. Eric Meyer, her son, contends the shock of the raid contributed to her death.

During the ordeal, and since, Eric Meyer has become a widely quoted figure on the importance of protecting the rights of journalists.

“Courage and determination aren’t choices, particularly if you’re steeped in the traditions of William Allen White,” Eric Meyer said. “They’re reflexes. Putting out our first paper after the raid was automatic. We didn’t have time to think, feel or even comprehend what we’d been through. We had a job to do. It took two straight all-nighters, but we were not silenced by being seized.”

Board members of the William Allen White Foundation said they were pleased to give the citation to an organization that had stood up for the rights of journalists in a such a powerful way.

“The selection of the Marion County Record as the recipient of this award continues a long tradition of the William Allen White Foundation Board of Trustees honoring distinguished journalists,” said Ann M. Brill, dean of the William Allen White School of Journalism. “The Record showed incredible courage and determination in the face of a threat to American democracy and displayed the importance of trustworthy local news.”