Week 3: Assignment

WednesdayNov 29 at 2:19pm

Manage Discussion Entry

The Fourth State, the name under which news media is recognized in society; was first introduced by Conservative Anglo-Irish MP Edmund Burke referring the gentleman to the press mockingly. Of course, he would have never imagined that centuries later this name would be given a real meaning by Australian politician Don Chipp who famously promised to "keep the bastards honest" referring to the major political parties of his day. The role of media in reporting about the government needs to be in the people's interest as understood by the public, not as understood by the government. "If we accept the premise of the Fourth Estate, we also have to ask ourselves if the "national" and the "public" interest are the same things." (Hirst, 2013).

Many things are done by the government on behalf of the "public interest" just to justify what otherwise would be seen as illegal, unethical and even unfair. Ladar Levison, the founder of Lavabit a secure e-mail service used by Edward Snowden, suffered the consequences of trying to bring to light many of these "things" by providing the necessary platform out of reach from government intervention to those willing to unmask unknown government whereabouts. When controversial acts or procedures are uncovered and revealed by those who want to work on behalf of the people's interest, the government's strategies are to blame the intentions as hidden agendas against the government and disguise the whole situation as the acts of unpatriotic individuals. These arguments are strategies of governments around the world.

Norihiro Kato in his opinion article "Abe and the Fourth State; explains what happens when the media plays the game of corresponding to the government in its attempt to ingratiate with them. According to Burrowes (2011), "The mass media in particular play a special role in the conferral of prestige and the maintenance of solidarity throughout society. (p. 15). In this case, Japanese Head of State Mr. Abe reached his goal of having the media to work for his government's interest. When the government's interest doesn’t go hand to hand with people's interest, then something is wrong, and the media shouldn't be a partner in crime. "Even worse than Mr. Abe's efforts to ingratiate himself with the media is the media's willingness to play along." (Kato, 2014). I think the Japanese case is a disgrace to this Asian country and the journalism profession; the media shouldn't be at the service of government and elite interests.

Luis Torres

References

Kato, N. (2014, June 12). Abe and the fourth estate. Retrieved fromhttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/13/opinion/kato-abe-and-the-fourth-estate.html

Hirst, M. (2013, December 10). Right to know: The ‘nation’, the ‘people’ and the Fourth Estate. Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/right-to-know-the-nation-the-people-and-the-fourth-estate-21253

Burrowes, C. P. (2011). Property, power and press freedom: emergence of the fourth estate, 1640-1789. Journalism & Communication Monographs, (1), 1.