What is the significance of the fourth estate?
The fourth estate essentially is journalists and print media. The phrase was originally only a synonym for newspapers. However with the advances in radio, television, news magazines, and television media it has evolved to mean mass media in general.
In America usage it is in contrast to the "fourth branch of government" and it means the right to independence for the press but that would suggest that the press is not independent of the government according to www.campwood.com.
It is attributed to Edmund Burke, a British politician who said there were "Three Estates in Parliament; but, in the Reporters' Gallery yonder, there sat a Fourth Estate more important far than they all," in reference to Thomas Caryle's book, On Heroes and Hero Worship. However, he may have been repeating what someone else had said it is not known for sure.
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