The Fourth Estate: Sorting Out Accurate, Reliable News
With the advent of the internet, social media, streaming platforms, podcasts, and much more, receiving information is easier than ever. But how do you know what is real and what is “fake news”?
Powerful leaders have attacked the media for decades as they try to deflect criticism for their statements or actions, according to Heather Hendershot, Professor of Communication Studies and Journalism at Northwestern University.
Hendershot writes while the situation is in many ways unique to this moment, a perceived crisis around the very notion of “objective reporting”.
JOURNALISM
AND DEMOCRACY
The three branches of government in the United States are the Executive (President), Legislative (Congress), and Judicial (court system). ”The Fourth Estate” is the press and news media.
The phrase has its origins in the French Revolution, where the church, nobility, and commoners comprised the first, second, and third estates. The media was called the Fourth Estate as early as 1821 by Edmund Burke, who wanted to point out the power of the press.
Understanding this role and the function of the Fourth Estate helps people grasp the very heart of American democracy, author Glenn Oldoff wrote in a Sept. 19, 2025, article on www.mercyfacultyforward.org.
“As democracies started to form, a free press rose up,” Oldhoff wrote. “This new force became so important it earned its own place as a fourth, unofficial branch of power.
“Think of it as a constant watchman, always keeping an eye on those in charge,” he wrote.
The American press began with simple colonial newspapers. These papers helped spread news and opinions among early settlers. The invention of the printing press made the sharing of information in this way much easier.
Later, “muckraking” journalists dug up hidden truths about corruption and unfair practices. That phrase gained notoriety in John Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress,” referring to the tool used to rake manure. President Teddy Roosevelt invoked the term in a 1906 speech complaining about journalists, according to PBS NewsHour.
The rise of radio and television changed how people got their news. Now, the internet and social media mean information — factual or not — travels faster than ever before.
Today, the Fourth Estate takes many forms.
“We see it in newspapers, TV news, and radio shows. It also lives on online news sites and through platforms dedicated to deep, investigative stories,” Oldhoff writes. “Even social media plays a part, though it brings its own set of challenges. This mix means our media is more varied, but also sometimes harder to sort through.”
NAVIGATING THE NEWS
One of the keys to filtering through this deluge of information for everything from local government actions to national legislation is identifying what news is reliable and what is not.
Organizations now have risen to check facts and help readers choose between credible and unbiased news sources versus less reliable and slanted articles, TV shows, podcasts, and other media. Fact-checking websites generally considered as trustworthy include Snopes, USA Facts, AP Fact Check, and FactCheck.org.
Other efforts are being made to arm readers with the tools they need to sort fact from fiction.
Ad Fontes Media launched in 2018 with the name that is Latin for “to the source,” says founder and CEO Vanessa Otero. The organization is a public benefit corporation, which operates as a for-profit business but has a specific public mission: to rate news to positively transform society, according to Otero.
On its Media Bias Chart®, Ad Fontes rates news programs, networks, YouTube channels, newspapers, and other media sources according to two key points: reliability and bias. The idea is to help people better understand how media outlets approach news reporting.
The company uses a non-partisan content analysis methodology to rate news sources through cooperative efforts of news analysts from the left, right, and center of the political spectrum. Analysts include attorneys, military veterans, teachers, university professors, librarians, civil service professionals, and, yes, journalists.
“You can’t believe everything you read. Inaccurate information and conspiracy theories are everywhere, especially online and on social media,” Beth Heldebrandt, Director of Communications at Ad Fontes Media, wrote in an October 2024 blog. “We often hear people say, ‘How are you supposed to know what to believe these days?’”
Identified by one name or another, the Fourth Estate has helped keep Americans informed since the nation’s founding. Faced with today’s tsunami of news or purported news reporting, consumers have more work than ever ahead of them in search of accurate information.
Efforts to help Americans navigate these waters are increasing.
“We live in a polarizing political and news environment, and it’s important to keep your news diet healthy while also consuming news from a variety of sources and viewpoints,” Heldebrandt wrote in an Aug. 11, 2025, blog entry.
Otero, too, has called the work of Ad Fontes Media helping people to become, “info fit,” Heldebrandt wrote in a December 2019 article for Gateway Journal Review.
“We love junk food and we love junk news. {But} they are both wreaking havoc on our individual and collective physical and mental health, and having detrimental effects on our whole society,” Otero said. As Heldebrandt wrote, “I assert that we should at least have some idea of what we are getting into before putting it into our brains.”
