Well, you are right if this would have been a private meeting of friends at their house.
However, this was recorded in an effort to uncover an illegal practice of private meetings by county officials in their office: "Bruce Willingham, the longtime publisher of the McCurtain Gazette-News, said the recording was made March 6 when he left a voice-activated recorder inside the room after a county commissioner’s meeting because he suspected the group was continuing to conduct county business after the meeting had ended in violation of the state’s Open Meeting Act."
It looks like he uncovered much more than he expected...