Editor of local Kansas newspaper honored with free speech award 

Eric Meyer, the editor of a Kansas newspaper that was raided by police in 2023, was presented with the 2025 Tully Free Speech Award Thursday evening for his commitment to press freedom. 

“For decades the U.S. has been a beacon for free speech,” said Roy Gutterman, director of the Tully Center for Free Speech. “I don’t think there is anything that exemplifies that more than what the Marion County Record went through a few years ago.” 

The award is presented to a journalist who has “shown courage in facing a free speech threat,” according to the Tully Center. Meyer is the editor and publisher of the Marion County Record, a local weekly newspaper in a town of less than 2,000 people. 

The newsroom was raided in August 2023 following the Record’s investigation into a restaurant owner and local officials. 

Meyer has received many awards following the raid, which has surprised him.  

“I am always amazed because realistically, we didn’t do anything.” Meyer said. “We just did our job and when they raided our newsroom, we just stood by.” 

Law enforcement also raided Meyer’s home that shared with his mother, Joan Meyer.  

Meyer’s mother died the day after the raid from a sudden cardiac arrest. He said the stress of the raid contributed to her death. Meyer engraved his mother’s gravestone with the words “martyr to the First Amendment.”  

“There aren’t many people who at age 98 get to go out with their death meaning something,” Meyer said. “But she did.” 

Meyer grew up in Marion and became a reporter and editor at The Milwaukee Journal after his graduation from the University of Kansas. He also taught journalism at the University of Illinois. He took over the Record in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Meyer said he views local journalism as a way to give power to community members who feel voiceless.  

“With local journalism … I can express my opinions on that and maybe somebody is going to do something about it. That convinces people to look at the facts,” Meyer said. “If they do that enough at a local level, maybe it’ll just grassroots grow up, and they can start doing it at bigger and bigger issues.” 

Meyer’s biggest advice for young journalists in the room was to go to unfamiliar places. 

“That forces you to really recognize what you need to know to deal with diverse people,” Meyer said. 

Quisqueya Witbeck, a graduate student in the executive master’s in international relations program, attended the event at the recommendation of a classmate. The event reminded her of her own town’s small paper that went out of business, and she appreciated Meyer’s attitude towards his experience.  

“Like [Meyer] said, good things come with sacrifice, which can apply to a lot of things,” Witbeck said.  

While the raid was unexpected and unlawful, Meyer is grateful for the public’s supportive response. 

“The one thing you don’t do with people from Kansas is make ‘Wizard of Oz’ allusions because it happens too often,” said Meyer. “But in many regards, I do feel like the world suddenly turned into color and I landed on the Wicked Witch’s house.”