Commentary: Free speech far from free – Jacksonville Journal Courier

There is a cartoon making the rounds on Facebook accompanied by comments announcing that Rick Friday, the cartoonist who drew the panel, had been fired by The Farm News, a Fort Dodge, Iowa, publication, after 21 years on the job.

The cartoon depicts two guys in bib overalls standing at a fence row. One of them says, I wish there was more profit in farming and the second guy says, There is. In the year 2015, the CEOs of Monsanto, DuPont Pioneer and John Deere combined made more money than 2,129 Iowa farmers.

Not exactly knee-slappingly funny, but apparently the companies named in the cartoon are also big advertisers with The Farm News.

The posting quotes the fired cartoonist as saying, When it comes to altering someones opinion or someones voice for the purpose of wealth, I have a problem with that. Its our constitutional right to free speech and our constitutional right to free press.

Although I can understand Fridays frustration at being let go, his objection that being fired is a violation of his constitutional rights of free speech and a free press shows a remarkable ignorance about those rights.

The First Amendment to the Constitution states: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

The First Amendment says that the government cannot pass laws prohibiting cartoonists from making fun of companies, but with respect to its employees, The Farm News can and is completely within its rights to fire the cartoonist.

The First Amendment outlines a relationship between the government and the people, not between a publishing enterprise and its employees. The management of The Farm News has an obligation to its owners and employees to maintain the financial integrity of the company. When one employees behavior threatens the finances of the company, management may discipline or even terminate the employee without violating his freedom of speech and press rights.

The constitutional protections of speech and press freedom do not guarantee that people may express themselves any way they want. You cannot post on the company bulletin board a notice declaring that the boss is an imbecile and then expect to be protected from being disciplined or fired because of your First Amendment rights. There is nothing in the Constitution compelling companies to spend advertising money in a particular publication, nor is there any provision in the First Amendment that requires a particular company to employ someone.

The government may not constrain Friday from drawing and having his cartoons published, but his employers are within their rights to fire him without violating his First Amendment rights.

Colin Kaepernick, the NFL quarterback who refused to stand for the National Anthem last year, was completely within his rights not to stand. However, just like Kaepernicks relation with the NFL, Fridays dismissal from The Farm News is not a violation of his First Amendment rights.

The First Amendment prohibits the government from silencing individuals and the press in most cases, but it is silent on work arrangements voluntarily entered into between both employees and management.

The Farm News has since rehired Rick Friday.

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Jacksonville resident Jay Jamison writes each Friday for this page.

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Commentary: Free speech far from free - Jacksonville Journal Courier