According to a report in The Topeka Capital-Journal, O'Brien believes the termination was punishment because she told media outlets that the corporation that owns the Dodge City paper had refused to pay for her legal representation and attempted to block her efforts to find independent counsel.
Her confidential source revealed himself to authorities after O'Brien was fined $1,000 a day for contempt when she initially didn't show up to testify. The contempt citation and fine were rescinded after she eventually testified in a closed hearing.
O'Brien said that after that Feb. 12 hearing, she was forced to sign some disciplinary forms, including one claiming she had defamed GateHouse Media.
She also found the locks on the newspaper building had been changed after the hearing, and she was the only reporter not given a key, O'Brien said. Other work restrictions included a requirement that a manager be present whenever she was in the building, O'Brien said.
O'Brien published a story Oct. 13 based on a jailhouse interview with Sam Bonilla, a man who eventually pleaded guilty voluntary manslaughter and aggravated battery. The story was considered controversial because it hinted that the situation had stirred up anti-Hispanic sentiment.
Times are hard for reporters. Yet, if O'Brien's version of what transpired at the paper is true, then this is a much larger blow to collective journalists, especially in Kansas, and freedom of the press as a whole.
