2 - The Fourth Estate: A Changing Doctrine

Summary

‘The paradox of the Fourth Estate, with its head in politics and its feet in commerce can, however, only be understood if it is appreciated that the whole idea of the Fourth Estate was a myth. A myth can combine fact and fiction without any uneasiness existing between the two.’

George Boyce 1978

Recognition of the importance of information, to economic and social well-being, predated general acceptance of the idea that citizens should have access to a wide range of information, to enable them to form opinions and make responsible political judgements. The demand for access to information has had a long history in social and intellectual thought, often accompanied by the idea of providing information for profit (James, 1991: 37–41). As the power of the monarchy, aristocracy and church splintered, challenged by revolutions, and social and political movements, the press emerged and assumed greater power (Stephens, 1988: 170). The press intruded itself into the political system, to become the principal agency for the provision of information to facilitate political choices, and the relationship between the media, politicians, government and citizens encapsulated in the shorthand description, the Fourth Estate, developed. In 1855 George Reeve traced the development from:

slight beginnings … it has overshadowed and surpassed the other estates. It has created the wont which it supplies. It has obtained paramount influence and authority partly by assuming them, but still more by deserving them … taken in its history, position and relations, it is unquestionably the most grave, noticeable and formidable phenomenon … of our times.

(Reeve, 1855:470)