Is the fourth estate still the fourth estate?

The relationship between the press and our government goes back further than even our government's existence. Ben Franklin wrote:" freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government;when the support is taken away the constitution of a free society is dissolved and tyranny is erected on its ruins. Republics and limited monarchies derive their strength and vigor from a popular examination into the action of the magistates." In our modern world we tend to forget how important these words were at the time. Nowadays we spit out so much garbage it is a disservice to what our founding fathers brought us.

The press at the time of our constitution was partisan. The press was used by various framers of the constitution to argue their points and reasons to what they wanted to include in the constitution and subsequent bill of rights.

One of the more famous writings found in the press of the time was the Federalist papers. In number 84 there is even the argument that maybe we did not need to have a bill of rights to include freedom of speech and press since the constitution did not specify any rules or regulations on speech or press. Eventually Mr. Hamilton lost his point and this became the first of the bill of rights.

So the press has always been a major part of what our government does. Eventually why the term fourth estate came about. The press conveyed upon itself its own importance in influencing public policy by influencing public opinion. Fast forward to the 21st century.

Where does the press stand now? Some will complain about partisanship in today's press. By itself this is not a bad thing. As briefly mentioned in this post partisanship can be beneficial at times. Unfortunately in today's world the partisan press groups like Fox news for conservatives or MSNBC for liberals do not meet expectations of being able to deliver a well thought out partisan argument. They pander to their perceived audience and not address a healthy argument that addresses both sides if an issue to make a point that supports their side of the issue. And the overall press has given in to corporate greed and panders its stories and presentation to sell ads and make money first. The ideal the press holds out for itself of effecting public discussion is lost in its own noise.

The press wanted the label of the fourth estate to elevate itself in the importance of public debate, basically alluding to the fourth estate being the fourth branch of government. If it wanted to be that ideal, it is now failing to that goal.

The almost good news and it goes back to Mr. Franklin's point of a free society needing free speech is and I hate sounding like I am tooting my own horn, but the internet and the blogging world has become or becoming more of the vessel of free speech our society needs. It has potential, but even as it grows it sets itself back. The blogging community tends to follow like minded individuals. IE, first person starts a blog, friend or second person likes it and then eventually you have a community of people following each other's blog that all agree with each other.

And where does this leave us in trying to have a forum to further our public debate to make the three true branches of government understand and perform to the people. We need to hold the press accountable for their actions. Maybe not in the same way as our representatives, but in some ways that let them know we are more important than ad numbers. We, the
people, to maintain,our more perfect union have a responsibility to read not just with what we agree, but with a view to become well versed on the issues so we can demand better from our elected leaders. This means we must demand from the fourth estate better quality and better content or their demise as the fourth estate is just as much our fault as theirs.

We can continue to blog and exercise our freedom of speech, in fact we must. Our opinions though need the professional outlet the press can give us. And on a side note it is amazing how much better the framers of our constitution wrote than modern political writers and legislators. It is a shame that a country that was founded on high ideals and eloquent writing has devolved into petty brinkmanship to try and make a point. There are so many ways we should strive to be better (myself included,I wish I could write half as well as our founders).

If we want to demand better from our government we must demand better from ourselves. And for tonight that means we need to look at our resources in public policy and demand they meet our needs as the fourth estate.


Cheers, salud, good night.