What is the significance of the fourth estate?

The idea of the fourth estate comes from Medieval times in England and France, where the population was structured into three different estates. The first estate consisted of the clergy, the second was the nobility, and the third estate was the common people. With the arrival of the printing press and the early reporters, the written word industry created its own place in society and it did not fit perfectly into either of the three estates, so a fourth was created. First coined by British Parliament member Edmund Burke in the mid-1700s, the term "fourth estate" is now used to describe all journalistic activities.

When the United States was founded under the three-branch form of government, the term fourth estate took on a new meeting as the press was designed to regulate the activities of the other three branches and it was stated in the first amendment that the government should not interfere in the actions of the press. However, the press was not given a formal branch of the government but was still called the fourth branch. The unofficial fourth branch of our government is meant to be a sort of watchdog of the people to keep containment on the government. As the founders put it, "the role of the press is keeping tabs in power to keep them honest."