what is the fourth estate
The Fourth Estate (or fourth power) is a societal or political force or institution whose influence is not consistently or officially recognized. Fourth Estate most commonly refers to the news media, especially print journalism or the press.Thomas Carlyle attributed the origin of the term to Edmund Burke, who used it in a parliamentary debate in 1787 on the opening up of press reporting of the House of Commons of Great Britain.n United States English, the phrase fourth estate is contrasted with the  fourth branch of government , a term that originated because no direct equivalents to the estates of the realm exist in the United States.