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Editorial
We often throw around terms and phrases in our everyday lives without really giving them too much thought.
Take the First Amendment, for example. It’s one of those 40,000 foot concepts. A term we hear — an idea we revere — but one we never really comprehend until we are faced with the possibility of losing the rights it provides.
The First Amendment guarantees five essential elements for our American democracy — the freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly and the ability to petition our government.
Two recent events make us appreciate these freedoms even more than we ever did before.
First, we must thank District Court Judge Bryan Meismer for his willingness to see the big picture, even though that kind of thinking brought the possibility of throwing an already laborious court case into an even longer and messier affair.
Judge Meismer presided over the recently concluded Jason Jones quadruple murder trial.
In preliminary hearings in July, lawyers noted they might want to limit press access to evidence in the trial.
While no action was taken at that time by the court, the mere conversation between the court and the attorneys sent up a huge red flag.
If they are considering limiting press access to information at an open hearing, what might they consider next, we reasoned?
Could a gag order be far behind? The Cedar County News didn’t want to take that chance. After all, Cedar County residents have been on edge ever since the gruesome August 2022 murders of four Laurel residents.
Cedar County residents — the victims friends, neighbors and family — all have a right to hear all of the testimony presented at this trial. They have a right to all the facts in this case.
That’s when the Cedar County News decided to bring in our own lawyers, and petition the court to intervene in the case.
Although he was surprised by our request to intervene, Judge Meismer granted our request, ensuring the media would get the opportunity to view and report on all information in the case.
The reality is, without these Constitutional guarantees, our day-to-day lives would be incredibly different.
An even more alarming situation took place last year at the Marion (Kansas) County Record.
Kansas law enforcement disregarded the First Amendment and a slew of other state and federal statutes and raided the newspaper office and publisher Eric Meyer’s home, confiscating computers, and reporters’ notes and cell phones in an effort to investigate charges of identity theft and illegal use of a computer.
The truth of the matter soon came out, however. City officials had a strong desire to punish the newspaper for its investigation of the police chief’s questionable employment background and its reporting on the mayor’s alleged ethics violations and other activities.
A few weeks later, the chief was suspended, and three days later, he resigned.
This full force attack against the First Amendment drew outrage from across the country, as well it should. The First Amendment, though, and all of the protections it offers held up again.
We got an in-depth look at this case last weekend when Meyer spoke at a First Amendment forum at the National Newspaper Association annual convention in Omaha. Without the guarantees of the First Amendment, there is a very good chance Cedar County residents wouldn’t have been able to get all the facts in the Jones murder trial, and that the police would have gotten away with raiding the newspaper office and intimidating the newspaper staff simply because they didn’t like the bad press they were getting.
The First Amendment may just be a popular phrase to throw around for some, but it is much more than that. It has real meaning. Without its protections, our country would quickly resemble a Third World Country where dictators, and not the voter, decide who has the right to express their opinions.
