To Tell the Truth

and call out the lie.

"If a man makes the press utter atrocious things he becomes as answerable for them as if he had uttered them by word of mouth. Mr. Jefferson has said in his inaugural speech, that 'error of opinion might be tolerated, when reason was left free to combat it.' This is sound philosophy in cases of error. But there is a difference between error and licentiousness."

Thomas Paine
"Of the term, 'Liberty of the Press.'"
from the American Citizen, October 20, 1806

We have a problem and everyone knows it. The Press as traditionally understood has been in full-blown crisis for a long time. The “Fourth Estate,” or “legacy” press sometimes called the “mainstream” press, has in great part lost its role as a debating or critical voice.

For those who may not fully understand the term “Fourth Estate,” it arose during the period of the French Revolution, where the church, nobility and commoners were the first, second, and third estates respectively. It is no accident that the twin revolutions — the American and French — came about precisely during the rise and widespread expansion of the popular printing press. Remember, it was a hand press only at that time, but it revolutionized popular culture and turned the old world upside down. The press became known as a new class or social realm that exercised a power comparable to the first three estates; and a power that could challenge them; the Fourth Estate. This was also the source of Thomas Paine’s emergence and rise. By virtue of the hand press, the obscure son of a Quaker corset-maker became the voice heard round the world.

In this country, the legacy press is now little more than a stenographer of the ruling order and commercial interests. The print press is dying; its influence on the wane since the emergence of television. And the legacy television and cable media no longer challenge individuals and movements in any meaningful sense. Leaks from government intelligence operatives are treated as news. CIA and DIA operatives and executives serve on the generously paid staffs in commentary and news expert roles. Your expert is a “spook.” Lies are given equal coverage with credible information. False equivalency rules the day and dissenting voices are rarely covered. A falsehood is challenged only when there is a state or commercial agenda or interest in doing so. The formula is simple: corporate/financial money owns the government and the same corporate/financial entities own the major news outlets. This is almost universally understood. In what sense can this be called a “free press?”

With the corruption and deterioration of the Fourth Estate, some believe we are witness to the rise of a Fifth Estate. The Wikipedia explains the term and its evolution:

”The Fifth Estate is a socio-cultural reference to groupings of outlier viewpoints in contemporary society, and is most associated with bloggers, journalists publishing in non-mainstream media outlets, and the social media or ‘social license.’ The ‘Fifth’ Estate extends the sequence of the three classical Estates of the Realm and the preceding Fourth Estate, essentially the mainstream press. The use of ‘fifth estate’ dates to the 1960s counterculture, and in particular the influential The Fifth Estate, an underground newspaper first published in Detroit in 1965. Web-based technologies have enhanced the scope and power of the Fifth Estate far beyond the modest and boutique conditions of its beginnings.”
in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Estate

Now let’s return to Paine’s quote. Keep in mind that when Paine returned to the United States from France in 1802, he landed into a press war over the Jefferson administration. Without the slightest exaggeration, Jefferson’s election in 1800 was prefaced by one of the nastiest press wars in history: a barrage of vilification and character assassination. Paine arrived back in the USA exhausted and reeling from his imprisonment during the French Revolution … and landed into the middle of the fray. The press that lifted Paine to eternal fame — and he knew it — had betrayed what he believed was its only rightful role ie. to tell the truth and to call out the lie.