On August 11, 2023, local law enforcement seized electronics and reporting materials from the Marion County Record in a raid that provoked a national outcry over the blatant press freedom violation in small-town Kansas.
The raid led to multiple federal lawsuits against the county government, public officials, and the city, accusing them of retaliating against the newspaper for its coverage. Last fall, Marion County agreed to pay $3 million to three journalists and a city councilor, settling some of those lawsuits. And on Tuesday, the third anniversary of the raid, the city of Marion settled with one of those reporters, Phyllis Zorn, agreeing to pay her $850,000, the Kansas Reflector reported.
The costly settlement is a vindication of press freedom at the local level in a year and political climate in which that freedom faces unrelenting stress tests. The raid is covered in the documentary “Seized,” which premiered at Sundance in January.
Other lawsuits against the city remain outstanding. But for Zorn, who retired and moved elsewhere in Kansas after receiving settlement money from the county last fall, the latest settlement ends a yearslong ordeal that has taken a severe toll on her health.
“They picked on the wrong people,” Zorn told the Reflector. “I think they thought they would get away with it because they’re some nothing little town in rural Kansas. But we were a newspaper. We have access to immediately draw the attention of the whole nation.”
