Assessing the current state of journalism and democracy after the now disavowed police raid on the Marion County Record newsroom and the home of his mother, who died the next day from stress of the raid.
Retired as a tenured associate professor of journalism at the University of Illinois after nearly two decades as an editor at the Milwaukee Journal and online publisher of American Journalism Review, Meyer continues to serve as president of The Hoch Publishing Co. Inc. and editor and publisher of its three community weeklies in Kansas — Marion County Record, Hillsboro Star-Journal and Peabody Gazette-Bulletin — which were targets of a later disavowed police raid Aug. 13, 2023.
He’s a member of the Kansas Newspaper Hall of Fame and recipient of the Don Bolles Medal from Investigative Reporters and Editors; the William Allen White Foundation National Citation from the University of Kansas; the Maria Ressa Prize for Courage in Local of Independent Journalism from the University of Maryland; the Tom and Pat Gish Award for courage, integrity and tenacity in rural journalism from the University of Kentucky; the First Amendment Citation of Courage award from the Radio, Television, Digital News Association; and more than 100 statewide awards over several decades from the Kansas Press Association.
