Seized Review: When the Attempt to Stop the Presses Ignites a Bigger Story

Seized
(USA, 94 min.)
Dir. Sharon Liese
Prod. Sharon Liese, Sasha Alpert, Paul Matyasovsky
Program: U.S. Documentary Competition (World premiere)

 

The role of journalism in a society divided by politics has been a hot button topic globally for several years. Once universally viewed as agents performing a vital tool to inform and empower people via evidence-based facts, journalist have moved from unsung heroes to villains in some people’s eyes. Instead of praising their ability to hold those in charge accountable, they are chastised for not bending to the will of powers they challenge. One needs to look no further than Sharon Liese’s documentary Seized to find a perfect microcosm of this shift.

Taking audiences to the small town of Marion, Kansas, Liese focuses on a quaint American community that found itself at the centre of a national debate about the freedom of the press. The spark that ignited the explosive wick of discourse was a police raid on the Marion County Record, the town’s local newspaper. Violating both state and federal laws, the cops not only seized the computers and personal cellphones of staff, but also raided the home of the Record’s editor Eric Meyers, who lived with his 98-year-old mother and co-publisher Joan. As if the raid was not enraging enough, Meyer’s mother passed away the next day reportedly due to complications related to the stress of the event.

Vowing revenge on those who dared to infringe on the paper’s constitutional freedoms, Meyer and his staff began reporting on the raid and assembling the puzzle pieces they needed to get a clearer picture. As national journalists and investigative reporters flocked to Marion to cover the story, the added attention irked those in the community who didn’t think that employees at the paper were the innocent victims they claimed to be. Their resentment only grew as Meyer’s story became an award-winning symbol for why journalism needed to be protected at all costs.

Moving past the sensational headlines, as the small town drama sometimes reads like a soap opera, Seized finds it most salient points in the fine print. It is there where Liese’s documentary raises intriguing questions about the dangers of unchecked power while exploring the boundaries ethical journalism. Highlighting how corruption now boldly moves in plain sight, as the audience observes in striking via bodycam footage, the director reinforces how easy it is these days to have one’s rights infringed upon. The fact that some people in Marion don’t seem bothered by the misuse of trust by officials is chilling.

Preferring their news to be spoon-fed with some uplifting sweetness, some of the townsfolk that Liese speaks with are far more concerned with their grudges against Meyer than with the ramification of the raid itself. As bright-eyed young reporter Finn Hartnett, an outsider who serves as the audience’s guide to this community, points out, “People aren’t used to newspapers these days.” The implication being that the stringent journalist standards have become off-putting and a softer approach is preferred in a place where everyone knows one another.

This tug-of-war dynamic between reporting the news and appeasing the community clearly pulls Hartnett in conflicting directions throughout his year at the Marion County Record. While he is quick to warn the mayor, of the conflict of interest that comes with journalist being the PR mouthpieces for those in authority, as the mayor believes that local papers should work in conjunction with city council, the young man finds it difficult to navigate a space where he is viewed as the villain in the locals’ eyes.

This is not to say the ethics of a journalist should not be questioned. Seized frequently raise questions about where the line between facts and ego blurs. For all his old-school bluster about reporting the facts even if it means one is hated, Meyer’s own moral compass does not always point in the right direction. As one local businesswoman notes, the editor had no qualms about mentioning her racy online photos, taken years earlier, when writing on the sexual harassment practices of a public official. By naming her and her business directly, when he did not need to, he essentially victimized her for a second time.

Although Meyer’s edges may be coarse, Liese’s film does see the diamond buried in his stony bravado. His colleagues frequently note that he is a kind soul at heart, whose passion for the integrity of his institution remains unwavering in the face of corruptions. Meyer is a man who harkens back to a time when journalists sacrificed everything but their reputations to get a story right. In a world where crystal-clear truths are being fogged by deceit and systematic abuse of power, journalists of his and his colleagues’ ilk are needed more than ever.

Seized is a poignant reminder that in times when fear and manipulation are used to keep us silent, it is important that journalists continue to speak truth power.

Seized premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.

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