She came up with a definition of the Fourth estate as being
scientists. I came up with the Fourth
being indeed the press, but the first Three?
A complete surprise!
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Parliament |
Turns out the term was coined by Thomas Carlyle who
paraphrased Edmond Burke commenting on a change in Parliament procedure that
would allow the public to know what was going on in their government by letting
the press attend sessions. The press was
termed the Fourth Estate; the first three being respectively, the Clergy, the
House of Lords, and the House of Commons.
Prior to 1787, although the public had a say as to who represented them,
they had no knowledge as to how well they did so.
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William Randolph Hearst |
Almost immediately the more liberal United States embraced
the concept. The press was tremendously
influential in our politics, as evidenced in the Jingoism and Isolationist
fervor surrounding the Spanish-American War.
Influence continued, as did the awareness of the value of the press in
garnering public support for Executive agenda.
The press began to flex its political muscle with the rise of William Randolph
Hearst, who moved into the large American cities and started what was called “yellow
journalism”. His power began to be used
by political machines such as Tammany Hall to unify support from mostly new
immigrants.
By the time I became interested in journalism, the press’s political
influence was being edged aside by that of science, since the Cold War and the
fear of The Bomb were making the populace concerned with the race between the
U.S. and the Soviet Union for science mastery: hence Mary’s definition as to
what constituted the Fourth Estate.
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Julian Assange |
Whoever chose the title for the film that explores the
rather convoluted and interesting life of Julian Assange made an apt
change. The creator of WikiLeaks has
certainly brought the influence of the press into perspective by morphing into
what Social Media brings to the table.
Of all the changes we see in the print media: movement toward online
reading, streaming, podcasts, news on demand, Yelp-like critical comment, and content
condensation, none would seem to have gained more power faster than sharing
information in a real-time manner.
Whether in the populist “spring” movements, Facebook and
Twitter political influence, the whys and wherefores of drone attacks, or
negotiating through the media, as we watch argument about debt ceilings and the
ACA, there is no doubt that social media such as WikiLeaks have a profound
effect on the political scene, not the least being how money is raised.
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Benedict Cumberbatch |
As one who has no dog in the fight, I am content to watch
from the sidelines and marvel at the pace of change around me. I am anxious to see what Benedict Cumberbatch
does with the role. I have been very
pleased with what he did to reinvent Sherlock Holmes.
My next post is going to touch on a subject without being
salacious: a STD. Curious? Come visit.
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