The fifth estate

If you’ve been a reporter long enough, you learn that when people say you’re a “member of the Fourth Estate,” they mean to insult you and to let you know they read a book once. The only exception is lawyers, who use the term the same way they use Latin, as a way to remind you that they’ve read a lot of books. And in America, we can afford a Fifth Estate, which is bloggers, Substack geniuses, “citizen journalists” and “independent journalists.” A citizen journalist is someone who has nothing on his/her resume except being born in America. An independent...

Article Link