What is the significance of the fourth estate?

Every society has classes, whether they are based on status or income. They stemmed from the early societies, all the way medieval time and present day. In the medieval era, the English and French societies had classes called estates. Edmund Burke was credited for the coining of the word, fourth estate (Vivian, 379). The fourth estate was journalism and how it portrayed the other three estates. It was probably also seen as the lowest class because they were investigators. In that time, anybody that tried to discover the truth and level out the classes was looked down upon. Over the years, however, its role has transformed from the monarchies of England and France to the democracy of America. In the United States, the media has an unofficial fourth branch of government that is comparable to the fourth estate idea.

In the US, we have the three branches of government to balance the power so one does not become more powerful than the other. However, these are all under the umbrella of the government, and the media is not. The fourth estate’s job is to expose the government, prevent corruption, and allow the citizens to see what exactly what their government is doing. It is systems like these that make for a successful democracy.