There are 14 clearly defined rights of access. None of them apply to journalists.
I agree journalism is important and rooting out public corruption is a good cause. They should have requested the records by FOIA. Some records are exempt from FOIA and I have hunch these were such records. Congress passed the law setting out those fourteen reasons a person could have a valid legal right to the data, and fishing expeditions by well meaning journalists isn’t one of them, for good reason!
Don’t forget, the document was the proof of the corruption, before that, sounds like, it was allegation and conjecture motivated by a small town grudge.
I don’t know, assume the affidavit is true and the actions of the newspaper employee were illegal, is the raid objectionable for any legal reason?