EDITORIAL: Hateful rhetoric has a price

Apr. 2—A lawsuit filed by the Marion County Record highlights the price media are paying for years of rhetoric characterizing them as the "enemy of the people."

It was a signature phrase of former President Donald Trump's campaigns and his four years in office.

That rhetoric manifest in violence on Jan. 6, 2021, when numerous journalists were assaulted, thousands of dollars worth of equipment destroyed and "Murder the media' was scrawled on, of all places, the U.S. Capitol.

A Miami, Oklahoma, man, Benjamin Scott Burlew, who is a former resident of Carthage, is one of those accused of assaulting the media during the insurrection. The U.S. attorney's office in Tulsa reported that a video shows that Burlew yelled at, grabbed and dragged AP photographer John Minchillo on the Capitol steps.

Burlew allegedly pulled Minchillo down the Capitol steps by a lanyard he was wearing identifying himself as an AP photographer and shoved him over a low wall.

Walmart had the good sense to stop selling a T-shirt with the words "Rope. Tree. Journalist. Some assembly required" from its website, but not the good sense to avoid getting hooked up with the third-party seller in the first place.

On Monday, the Marion County Record in Marion, Kansas, filed a federal First Amendment lawsuit against city and county officials who it alleges planned and carried out the raid last year of the newspaper office and publishers' home. The newspaper argues in the lawsuit that the "co-conspirators" sought revenge for what they believed was unfavorable news coverage.

According to the Kansas Reflector, former Marion Mayor David Mayfield "ordered the takedown of the newspaper and a political rival after identifying journalists as 'the real villains in America.'"

The lawsuit claims the defendants violated the First and Fourth Amendments, as well as federal and state laws that protect journalists and sources from police raids.

"The last thing we want is to bankrupt the city or county, but we have a duty to democracy and to countless news organizations and citizens nationwide to challenge such malicious and wanton violations of the First and Fourth Amendments and federal laws limiting newsroom searches," said Marion County Record publisher and editor Eric Meyer. "If we prevail, we anticipate donating any punitive damages to community projects and causes supporting cherished traditions of freedom."

The Reflector reported, "According to the lawsuit, Mayfield, a former Kansas Highway Patrol trooper and Marion police chief who works part time for the sheriff, wanted to punish Eric Meyer and Councilwoman Ruth Herbel for their criticism of his actions as mayor. In editorials, Eric Meyer referred to Mayfield as a dictator, bully and liar. Mayfield had tried and failed to remove Herbel from the City Council through a recall petition in January 2023."

Just weeks before the raid, Mayfield wrote on his personal Facebook page — in a phrase that leans heavily on Trump's rhetoric — that "The real villains in America aren't Black people. They aren't white people. They aren't Asians. They aren't Latinos. They aren't women. They aren't gays. They are the radical 'journalists,' 'teachers' & 'professors' who do nothing but sow division between the American people."

Words have consequences, and irresponsible words have irresponsible consequences.

The "enemy of the people" madness has real-world repercussions and must end, before more people are hurt and more media outlets are attacked.