The Fourth Estate

What is the Fourth Estate and why should we care? Sir Edmund Burke, a British politician, first used the term to describe the press. He believed that they were more important than the government. http://uspolitics.about.com/od/politicaljunkies/a/fourth_estate.htm

Today the term applies to all forms of media. Why are they important? If they are doing their job, they are a vital source of accurate information for citizens. We need them because we cannot research everything ourselves. We need informed citizens so they can elect honorable politicians and vote out the scoundrels.

The average citizen has many politicians who are making decisions that directly or indirectly affect their lives. These range from their local town council and school board to state officials and the Federal government. We have the obligation to be informed about these people and the Fourth Estate needs to be a source we can use and trust.

Sadly, many forms of media have now become "entertainment" rather than information sources. Cable news shows run with the first, often incorrect, information on any event so they can beat the others to the punch. We know now that we can't trust them. They sensationalize to gin up their ratings and sell more advertisement.

With the increasing influence of the Internet, we have social media and bloggers trying to fill the void left by the weakening of the traditional Fourth Estate. But, many of those sources are also unreliable.

In my opinion we all need to find good sources of information and then share them with others.

Let’s celebrate #WorldPressDay  with a strong commitment to support our free press in all its iterations. https://www.worldpressphoto.org/news/2020/world-press-freedom-day/39871