While all of our short podcast / channel essays and insights here have sharable concepts, the following is a continuation of our L-Curve series and a carrying over into how oligarchy affects the fourth estate, its associated media, its problems, and rational solutions. All of which will continue to be touched on, sometimes in very basic concept Cliff Note form, sometimes more in depth with future additional layers applied through our work going forward.
The term "Fourth Estate" traditionally refers to various media, which historically has especially been the journalistic press, as an influential and unofficial branch of government (which has actually become corporatized government) that plays a crucial role in a democratic society. The term is often used to highlight the media's role as a key player in the democratic process, serving as a check on the three official branches of government: the executive, legislative, and judicial.
The concept originated in Europe, and its roots can be traced back to the 18th century. The term "Fourth Estate", as the fourth branch after the 3 previously mentioned, underscores the significant role of the press in a democratic society, emphasizing its responsibility to serve the public interest, provide accurate and reliable information, and act as a check on power. The idea behind the Fourth Estate is that the media, through journalism and reporting, acts literally as a fourth power alongside the traditional branches of government. It is seen as a force that can hold those in power accountable, inform the public, and contribute to the functioning of a healthy democracy through an educated voting electorate. And doing so by constantly providing valuable information, analysis, criticism through information dissemination, encouraging public accountability and transparency, fostering civic engagement, serving as a watchdog, sharing respectful debate + public opinion, and most importantly, speaking truth to power. Which can only be done by honoring what is called the Journalistic Oath.
Journalists do not exist in dictatorships. Not only do they exist in a more free democratic society, they are the fourth table leg of said society, always moving it forward toward less and less dysfunction. While even then, they never have it easy, we are currently sailing through dark and stormy seas for journalism throughout the entire world. Even the more free world. Because many of the institutions they work for, are doing basically the opposite of what we just said
- not honoring their oaths, resulting in far too large an amount of the population getting either only partial information, incomplete information, skewed information, or malevolent propagandised information that equates to an oftentimes under educated voting electorate. This is the stale rotting corpse that is legacy media which to put it simply, rarely tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And we'll get into why this is in the next series of insights.