• Hobbes_Dent@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    It’s your fucking duty. It’s why you got an ’estate’. You are a necessary facet of democracy but you need to do your part and act like it so you deserve the protections and benefits provided to you for doing so - like benefit of trust and access to politicians.

    With few exceptions, you’re failing to be our eyes and ears and mouths and are instead mouthpieces for ownership and interests.

    If it was just your job to make money take off the news armour (yeah you Fox) and stand naked in front of us as the liars you are.

    Oof sorry. Got ranty there. It’s all getting to be too much.

    • kakes@sh.itjust.works
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      6 months ago

      Can you explain the “estate” thing like I’m a 5 year old non-American? (Only one of those is actually true, but I won’t say which one)

        • kakes@sh.itjust.works
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          6 months ago

          Sadly, I feel like the whole “separation of powers” thing is under attack in America and elsewhere as power continues to consolidate over time - even where it pertains to branches within government. Traditional media has long been lost in many cases, and even “alternative” media is so flooded with bad actors that it’s nearly impossible to get signal through the noise.

          Not to get too dour, but if media is in this state now, I hate to think of where it will be once AI starts to gain a real foothold in our political discourse. I assume we’ll start to see the effects of this really become evident this years, with American federal elections ramping up.

          • bobs_monkey@lemm.ee
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            6 months ago

            The author Tim Wu makes a great argument about corporate power consolidation leading to fascism in his book The Curse of Bigness. He states that leading up to WWII, nations promoted the size of their respective national champions, which in turn led to pressure for an authoritative command economy to ensure their continued dominance. It’s a great read and dire warning for the world’s current state of affairs.

      • JamesStallion@sh.itjust.works
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        6 months ago

        France had 3 estates, The Nobles, The Clergy, and the Everyone Else. Another two got added by political theory people over time. Number 4 is the journalists. Number 5 is the alt journalists.

      • Hobbes_Dent@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        You know, I thought I could but on brief search it’s… complicated.

        This is the best nugget from Wikipedia that sums up the general notion I’m trying to state that the media has been afforded a role in society - and that they aren’t acting as an independent class.

        The modern term the fourth estate invokes medieval three-estate systems, and usually refers to some particular force outside that medieval power structure, most commonly the independent press or the mass media.[3][4]

        • BangCrash@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          This commertor summarised it well

          “France had 3 estates, The Nobles, The Clergy, and the Everyone Else. Another two got added by political theory people over time. Number 4 is the journalists. Number 5 is the alt journalists.”