HUDSON — Landing a newspaper job these days is depressingly akin to winning at roulette. The odds just aren't great.

That, in part, is what makes a recent decision by three journalists in Columbia County remarkable. They quit their jobs at the Register-Star, a small daily paper in Hudson, in support of a colleague who was fired for making an ethical decision of his own.

This story begins, oddly enough, with the Pledge of Allegiance, recited by schoolchildren, members of organizations of all kinds and by members of the Hudson City Council at the start of meetings.

Well, most members recite it.

John Friedman, a Democrat elected last year, often ignores the pledge. His colleagues stand and recite the words, but he stays seated.

"I don't like to be told what to say and when to say it," Friedman told me.

OK, some of you probably just felt your pulse quicken in anger. But patriotism and how we choose to express it — or not — remains an emotional topic.

But to date, Friedman's decision hasn't been an issue in Hudson, a quirky little city with a live-and-let-live sensibility. So Tom Casey, the reporter who covered city politics for the Register-Star, concluded that Friedman's seated stand wasn't exactly breaking news.

Casey's bosses at the paper disagreed — and the difference of opinion came to a head earlier this month, when Casey wrote about a council budget meeting without mentioning that Friedman had once again refused to pledge his allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands.

Casey filed his story and went home. Shortly after, Casey was ordered to return to the office and add a paragraph or two about Friedman's decision. Casey did as he was told, but asked that his byline be removed from the story.

The next day, he was fired.

"We just don't understand why a reporter would want to ... seemingly protect a public official or censor the news," wrote Roger Coleman, the newspaper's publisher, and Theresa Hyland, its executive editor, in an explanation posted on the newspaper's website.

Their statement was posted Friday, a week after Casey was fired and days after the newspaper's decision became the talk of Hudson and began receiving attention on a national journalism website.

See, while Casey is just 24 years old, a recent college grad who had been at the Register-Star for about a year, he was already much admired by his colleagues. And his firing caused more than a small outcry in the newsroom.

Most of the newspaper's reporters and editors even signed a letter to Coleman and Hyland that sang Casey's praises and asked that he be reinstated.

He wasn't, obviously.

And that caused two reporters — Adam Shanks and Billy Shannon — and City Editor Francesca Olsen to resign. (The Register-Star and an associated weekly had five news reporters.)

"I stand with my staff," said Olsen, who is 26. "This is just something that never should have happened."

Casey, of course, is hardly the first reporter to disagree with a superior's judgment. (Welcome to the business, kid!) And there are many reporters and editors who would conclude that Friedman's stance on the Pledge of Allegiance is, in fact, newsworthy.

As Coleman and Hyland wrote in their statement: "If there has to be outcry about something before it is news, then it would be hard to find content for our pages and websites. Sometimes there is a reaction from the community because we report on an event or action."

But Casey says he wouldn't have balked at writing about Friedman's position if he'd been allowed to tackle the topic thoroughly and responsibly. He just thought questioning a politician's patriotism deserved more than a few paragraphs quickly added to an unrelated story, especially since Friedman has been declining to stand for many months.

Coleman, the publisher, in a brief phone conversation referred me to the online statement and couldn't be reached for additional comment. And a request for comment from Watertown-based Johnson Newspaper Corp., which owns the Register-Star, was not returned.

In any event, the paper's decision to fire Casey has brought him and his colleagues unexpected notoriety, as the fiasco has been highlighted by Hudson bloggers predisposed to criticize a print-on-paper institution like the Register-Star.

"I don't think there's a bar in Hudson that (Casey) can't walk into and have four or five drinks bought for him," Friedman said. "People think very highly of him and the stand he took."

Last week, I met with Casey and the other members of the Newly Unemployed Four at a Hudson falafel shop just a few blocks from the Register-Star's office. Not surprisingly, they seemed a little shell-shocked. Joblessness in a down economy will do that to you.

But more than that, they were chagrined to no longer be reporting news, and they almost couldn't help but turn conversation to the nitty-gritty local issues in which they were recently immersed.

One thing was clear: The four had loved, really loved, their jobs. They knew that journalism remains an amazing way to make a living, despite the newspaper industry's recent struggles.

Yet three of the four had voluntarily given that up.

"I didn't make this decision lightly," said Shanks, whose words were echoed by Olsen and Shannon.

"I lost a lot of sleep over the last few days," he added. "But I wouldn't feel right if I didn't do anything."

cchurchill@timesunion.com • 518-454-5700 • @chris_churchill