Week 3: Assignment

ThursdayNov 30 at 1:18pm

Manage Discussion Entry

In a journal article, The Death of the Fourth Estate: Corporate Media and News Production, the author writes about what is commonly refferred to as the fourth estate--the journalists' role in representing the interests of the people against those in power who might be inclined to abuse that power. The article states, "The notion of the fourth estate is the ideological foundation of journalism in the West. It implies that journalism is something that fulfils and supports the public interest, and acts as an independent check and balance against the excesses of the state. However, changes in the news production cycle and process and ownership have seen the destruction of the fourth estate in practice" (Simons, 2013).

I am inclined to agree with this assessment, that the fourth estate is tragically coming to an end (if it hasn't already been eviscerated). These days, with so many hidden--and sometimes extremely overt--agendas intertwining government and large media corporations, I believe it is increasingly difficult to properly execute the duties of the fourth estate without some form of government/political pressure or bias.

In the course text, there is a section that discusses news culture and the importance of corporate integrity. It states, "an individual's commitment to honesty, fairness, and ethical standards should be strong, and the writer's confidence in the corporation's standards should be well-placed," (Stovall, 2015) but that can be increasingly difficult when encountering situations like those listed in Kato's article.

The story of the Australia's spying activities not only not being reported about by a news corporation that claims to be a "champion of freedom," but that this same news corporation criticized journalists who chose to report this information is modern-day proof of the downfall of the fourth estate. With the readily available proof that big media corporations are more interested in political favor-swapping than they are in upholding the journalistic ethical standards of the public's right to know, what other conclusions can be drawn?

Tiffany VanVolkinburg

References

Stovall, J. G. (2015). Writing for the mass media (9th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.

The Death of the Fourth Estate: Corporate Media and News Production. (2013). Izvestia: Ural Federal university Journal, (118), 145.