Past Trivia
fourth Estate
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Fourth estate: (n) meaning:
1. the public press (newspapers)
This phrase was originally used as a synonym for newspapers. But with the advent of radio, television, news magazines, etc., its meaning has been broadened to include all of what is known as the mass media. Its coinage, with its present meaning, has been attributed to Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797), a British politician. It comes from a quote in Thomas Carlyle's book, "Heros and Hero Worship in History" (1841). "Burke said that there were three Estates in Parliament, but in the Reporters Gallery yonder, there sat a fourth Estate more important far than they all." The three estates in the above quote refer to the British parliament, the Lords Temporal, the Lords Spiritual and the Commons. The Lords Temporal and the Lords Spiritual combined being The House of Lords, the upper House of parliament. And the Commons is The House of Commons or the British lower House. The term has been used with other means before this time but with what the OED calls 'jocular applications'. Most of these are of journalistic origin. "Covent Garden Journal" (1752) - Henry Fielding (1707 - 1754) "None of our political writers..take notice of any more than three estates, namely, Kings, Lords, and Commons..passing by in silence that very large and powerful body which form the fourth estate in this community..The Mob" "Table Talk" (1821) - William Hazlitt (1778 - 1830) "He (Corbbett) is a kind of fourth estate in the politics of his country." "French Revolution(1837) - Thomas Carlyle (1795 - 1881) (Again) "A Fourth Estate, of Able Editors, springs up."
In old days men had the rack. Now they have the press. That is an improvement certainly. But still it is very bad, and wrong, and demoralising. Somebody - was it Burke? - called journalism the fourth estate. That was true at the time, no doubt. But at the present moment it really is the only estate. It has eaten up the other three. The Lords Temporal say nothing, the Lords Spiritual have nothing to say, and the House of Commons has nothing to say and says it. We are dominated by Journalism.
The Soul of Man - Oscar Wilde
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