THE FOURTH ESTATE’S ROLE IN DEMOCRACY IS VITAL
My usual hodgepodge of verse, history, quotes & research
I have had on my mind in the last seven years especially of the importance of professional American journalism in covering our politics and the obvious assault upon democracy by the contemporary Republican Party. Mistakes certainly have been made, the right wing media is only blatant propaganda at this point and lies outside of the discussion of journalistic ethics and practice. So I wrote the verse below trying to capture my thoughts.
Some background on the term the “Fourth Estate.”
The “Fourth Estate” refers to the news media, especially with regards to their role in the political process.
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 first called the fourth estate in 1821 by Edmund Burke who wanted to point out the power of the press.
Edmund Burke reportedly said that “there were three Estates … but in the Reporters Gallery yonder, there sat a fourth Estate more important far than they all.”
A free press has been a staple of our nation’s liberties and history. During the American Revolution, the press provided a key source of information. In fact, it was so important that Congress provided the Continental Army with a printer so that Americans could maintain access to a newspaper during the war. After independence, the press was pivotal in publishing the Federalist and Antifederalist Papers, which provided a staging ground for the ideas that would form this country’s Constitution.
The term is now somewhat dated, but is used to stress journalists’ importance to politics.
The news media is often seen as a critical check on the power of the other three estates, serving as a watchdog to hold elected officials and other public figures accountable for their actions.
The press plays a crucial role in providing citizens with access to information about what is happening in government, as well as shining a light on corruption, abuse of power, and other forms of wrongdoing.
Opinion leaders in the media also play a crucial role in shaping attitudes towards important public issues.
In addition to its watchdog function, the Fourth Estate also serves as a platform for diverse voices and perspectives. Through its coverage of political debates, elections, and other public affairs, the press helps to ensure that a wide range of views and opinions are heard and considered in the political process.
On the Press and Journalism - some more recent quotes and some from the distant past.
“Our task is not to bring order out of chaos, but to get work done in the midst of chaos.”
— George Peabody
George Peabody (February 18, 1795 – November 4, 1869) was an American financier and philanthropist. He was the father of modern philanthropy. The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and online media. The awards were conceived by the National Association of Broadcasters in 1938 as the radio industry's equivalent of the Pulitzer Prizes.
“And what it depends on, of course, is whether the story itself is worth the ethical compromise it requires and whether the competition is onto the story.”
— Roger Mudd
“The ethics of editorial judgment, however, began to go through a sea change during the late 1970s and '80s when the Carter and Reagan Administrations deregulated the television industry.”
— Roger Mudd
Roger Harrison Mudd (February 9, 1928 – March 9, 2021) was an American broadcast journalist who was a correspondent and anchor for CBS News and NBC News. He also worked as the primary anchor for The History Channel. Previously, Mudd was weekend and weekday substitute anchor for the CBS Evening News, the co-anchor of the weekday NBC Nightly News, and the host of the NBC-TV Meet the Press and American Almanac TV programs. Mudd was the recipient of the Peabody Award, the *Joan Shorenstein Award for Distinguished Washington Reporting, and five Emmy Awards.
*Joan Shorenstein (1947 – March 10, 1985) was an American journalist for The Washington Post and producer for CBS News. Shorenstein began working for The Washington Post with no prior journalism experience. She left the Post in 1973 and began working for CBS News. She quickly worked her way up after just a year, becoming the associate producer of Face the Nation, and in 1979 she was appointed to producer.
“The liberty of the press is the highest safeguard to all free government.”
— E. D. Baker.
Edward Dickinson Baker (February 24, 1811 – October 21, 1861) was an American politician, lawyer, and US army officer. In his political career, Baker served in the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois and later as a U.S. Senator from Oregon. He was also known as an orator and poet. A long-time close friend of the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, Baker served as U.S. Army colonel during both the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War. Baker was killed in the Battle of Ball's Bluff while leading a Union Army regiment, becoming the only sitting U.S. senator ever to be killed in a military engagement.
“The press should be the representative of the strictest accuracy and honor.”
— Parke Godwin.
“Politics, international and municipal law, political economy, moral and social science, and the art of reading individual character, must be understood by the journalist, and not only understood, but explained; he must have that clear insight into general principles, and that familiarity with details, which will enable him to speak with clearness, originality, and decision.”
— Parke Godwin.
Parke Godwin (February 28, 1816 – January 7, 1904) was an American journalist associated with New York. He became interested in journalism and by the 1830s was writing for the Evening Post and The United States Magazine and Democratic Review under John L. O'Sullivan. The reforms he advocated in the Democratic Review were subsequently introduced into the constitution and code of New York.
“When the scope of journalism and its business is properly understood, with its social, political, and moral attitude of command, the value of first - class journalists will be appreciated.”
— Whitelaw Reid.
“The relation between the press and the people should be a reciprocal one, for each acts on the other.”
— Whitelaw Reid.
Whitelaw Reid (October 27, 1837 – December 15, 1912) was an American politician and newspaper editor, as well as the author of Ohio in the War, a popular work of history. As a famous voice of the Republican Party, he was honored with appointments as ambassador to France and Great Britain, as well as numerous other honorific positions. Reid was the party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in the 1892 election.
“Let every sheet issued from the press be a bright and shining light, to guide us in the path of wisdom and virtue, which is the only path of safety.”
— L. C. Judson.
JUDSON, L. CARROLL, born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, 1796; an American lawyer, and author Judson, L. Carroll (Levi Carroll): The Probe: or, One Hundred and Two Essays on the Nature of Men and Things (Philadelphia: G. B. Zieber and Co., 1846).
“There is no class of men whose responsibility is greater, nor any who seem to feel their responsibility less, than the directors of the periodical press in a free country.”
— R. D. Owen.
Robert Owen (14 May 1771 – 17 November 1858) was a Welsh textile manufacturer, philanthropist and social reformer, and a founder of utopian socialism and the co-operative movement. Owen received little formal education, but he was an avid reader.
“Journalism is an immense power that soon threatens to supersede sermons, lectures, and books.”
— T. Tilton.
“The press is forfeiting its influence by its falsity. At bottom, men and women love the truth. The press, with half the wealth it now has, and twice the sincerity, would more than double its influence.”
— T. Tilton.
Theodore Tilton (October 2, 1835 – May 29, 1907) was an American newspaper editor, poet and abolitionist. He was born in New York City to Silas Tilton and Eusebia Tilton (same surname). On his twentieth birthday, October 2, 1855, he married Elizabeth Richards. Tilton's newspaper work was fully supportive of abolitionism and the Northern cause in the American Civil War. Theodore Tilton was present at The Southern Loyalist Convention held in Philadelphia in September 1866. Frederick Douglass writes of him in his autobiography: There was one man present who was broad enough to take in the whole situation, and brave enough to meet the duty of the hour; one who was neither afraid nor ashamed to own me as a man and a brother; one man of the purest Caucasian type, a poet and a scholar, brilliant as a writer, eloquent as a speaker, and holding a high and influential position—the editor of a weekly journal having the largest circulation of any weekly paper in the city or State of New York—and that man was Mr. Theodore Tilton. He came to me in my isolation, seized me by the hand in a most brotherly way, and proposed to walk with me in the procession.
On Regularity, the closest I could find to ‘normality’ from my 1884 book of quotes.
“We should endeavor to be regular in all things; for he who observes regularity never goes beyond the bounds of moderation.”
— T. Coram.
Captain Thomas Coram (c. 1668 – 29 March 1751) was an English sea captain and philanthropist who created the London Foundling Hospital in Lamb's Conduit Fields, Bloomsbury, to look after abandoned children on the streets of London. It is said to be the world's first incorporated charity.
“Since regularity of personal and business habits is so indispensable in adults, its early formation in children is equally important; that child who has been trained up to regularity is richer than Solomon and Croesus together.”
— O. S. Fowler.
Orson Squire Fowler (October 11, 1809 – August 18, 1887) was an American phrenologist and lecturer. He also popularized the octagon house in the middle of the nineteenth century. Fowler wrote that coarse hair correlated with coarse fibers in the brain, and indicated coarse feelings; that, he wrote, suggested that people of African descent had poor verbal skills and traits that were best suited for nursing children or waiting on tables. At the same time, the phrenological journal edited by Fowler and his brother expressed strong abolitionist sentiments, calling slavery a "a monstrous evil." Fowler's writings were also anti-Semitic. For instance, in "Hereditary Descent" (1843), Fowler wrote that Jewish people were hereditarily acquisitive, deceitful, and destructive.
On Neutrality - thinking in relation to neutrality in reporting. I’m unsure about this and in these quotes but it seemed to be intellectually stimulating for this exercise.
“Neutrality is selfishness.”
— Margaret Coxe.
Margaret Coxe (1805–1855) was an American writer and educator. Coxe founded the Cincinnati Female Seminary in 1843. Seven years later, John Zachos became a co-owner and principal of the school. In 1851, they became co-owners and principals of the Cooper Female Institute in Dayton, Ohio. Coxe wrote several books, including The Young Lady's Companion and Claims of the Country on American Females. Margaret studied at home, which had a good library. Coxe had a love of learning, was disciplined in her studies, and was religious.
“A person may be impartial without being neutral.”
— Pope.
Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, Pope is best known for his satirical and discursive poetry including The Rape of the Lock, The Dunciad, and An Essay on Criticism, and for his translations of Homer.
“Be independent in everything; be neutral in nothing.”
— M. Walsh.
Michael Walsh (May 4, 1810 – March 17, 1859) was a United States representative from New York. Born in Youghal, Cork, Ireland to Protestant parents, he completed preparatory studies, was graduated from Trinity College, Dublin and emigrated to the United States, settling in Baltimore, Maryland. He learned the lithographic printing trade, and moved to New York City. While in New York City, Walsh also founded the anti-Catholic Bowery Boys gang. He was elected as a Democrat to the 33rd United States Congress, holding office from March 4, 1853, to March 3, 1855. He was an unsuccessful candidate for re-election in 1854, and after his term in Congress was employed as a newspaper reporter.
“Neutrality, as a lasting principle, is an evidence of weakness.”
— Kossuth.
Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva (Louis Kossuth; 19 September 1802 – 20 March 1894) was a Hungarian nobleman, lawyer, journalist, politician, statesman and governor-president of the Kingdom of Hungary during the revolution of 1848–1849. Kossuth's powerful English and American speeches so impressed and touched the famous contemporary American orator Daniel Webster, that he wrote a book about Kossuth's life.
I looked for information on research for the need of people to want a world of normality in the current chaos of American politics. This need filtering journalists' views in covering the news, this was my intention. I did not find anything specific in this regards but came across a listing of biases in humans which seems to cover my intentions to some extent. I found this helpful in my understanding.
From the website Scribbr some definitions on the need for normalcy and the biases which no doubt play a part with all humans, including journalists, and media in general.
Resistance to change
Threats represent a change in our environment. Our natural tendency is to resist change and to believe that life will continue as it is. This resistance is a normal response and can occur even during the initial phase of stressful events. We become so accustomed to our everyday normal life that we are optimistic that things will continue as they are. This makes it hard for us to register and deal with impending disasters.
Types of biases:
Normality bias (or normalcy bias) is the tendency to underestimate the likelihood or impact of a potential hazard, based on the belief that things will continue as they have in the past.
This bias affects much of the institutional media companies in my opinion. My write verse addressed this directly, or attempted to do so.
Cognitive bias is the tendency to act in an irrational way due to our limited ability to process information objectively. It is not always negative, but it can cloud our judgment and affect how clearly we perceive situations, people, or potential risks.
I can see this being a great problem today within the MAGA moment. And in observing these biases within this group we are prone to have our own biases arrive which further complicates our ability to engage with these folks in a rational way. Most likely due to disinformation many of the MAGA may have similar ideas of left leaning biases. The media environment in which they choose to live leads to direct cognitive bias, and this is purposeful.
Perception bias is a broad term used to describe different situations in which we perceive inaccuracies in our environment. It is a type of cognitive bias that occurs when we subconsciously form assumptions or draw conclusions based on our beliefs, expectations, or emotions. Three types of perception bias are visual perception, self-perception and social perception. When we look at something, our brains use the information available (like visual cues or prior experience) to make sense of an object. This means that our visual processing of faces can be biased. People are often biased in their self-perceptions, failing to assess themselves accurately. A common problem with social perception is the tendency to think of people in terms of their social group membership. Perception bias occurs because our perception is selective. Here, perception refers to the process of screening, selecting, organizing, and interpreting stimuli, such as words or objects, in order to give them meaning. Our brain chooses to hone in on one or very few stimuli out of the multitude of stimuli surrounding us. This is one way our brains differentiate between important and unimportant things.
Outgroup bias is the tendency to dislike members of groups that we don’t identify with. We not only have negative feelings and ideas about people who are not part of our group, but we also tend to exhibit hostility towards them. This happens even if we know nothing about them as individuals.
No doubt this is a common bias of millions today, across the political spectrum, and the social spectrum. This bias seems very close to several others below.
Self-serving bias is the tendency to attribute our successes to internal, personal factors, and our failures to external, situational factors. In other words, we like to take credit for our triumphs, but we are more likely to blame others or circumstances for our shortcomings.
Opportunistic behavior would lend itself well to this bias without a doubt. To be completely altruistic is perhaps a fantasy, but this bias certainly plays a large role in our country today.
Affinity bias is the tendency to favor people who share similar interests, backgrounds, and experiences with us. Because of affinity bias, we tend to feel more comfortable around people who are like us. We also tend to unconsciously reject those who act or look different to us.
No doubt this is a common bias of millions today, across the political spectrum, and the social spectrum.
The halo effect occurs when our overall positive impression of a person, product, or brand is based on a single characteristic. If our first impression is positive, the subsequent judgments we make will be colored by this first impression.
Ingroup bias is the tendency to favor one’s own group over other groups. Ingroup bias affects our perception of (and behavior towards) others, giving preferential treatment to the members of our own group while excluding other groups.
No doubt this is a common bias of millions today, across the political spectrum, and the social spectrum.
Confirmation bias is the tendency to seek out and prefer information that supports our preexisting beliefs. As a result, we tend to ignore any information that contradicts those beliefs.
I’ve often heard this term in regards to political thought. The natural tendency is perhaps for this bias to assist us in our decisions in the world.
Conformity bias is the tendency to change one’s beliefs or behavior to fit in with others. Instead of using their own judgment, individuals often take cues from the group they are with, belong to, or seek to belong to about what is right or appropriate. They then adapt their own behavior accordingly.
I immediately thought of authoritarian followers in regards to this bias, and a closed mind, and perhaps in a reactionary urge to return to some past time. But it would be foolish to assume this bias is only present on one side of the political spectrum, or social acceptance spectrum. The perception of bizarreness of most toward the most right of the MAGA movement certainly has a degree of conformity bias within the mind.
The Journalism of the Civil War.
I was interested in journalism during the American Civil War. After looking at a listing I decided to briefly show the work of two. First is a black reporter Thomas Morris Chester (May 11, 1834 – September 30, 1892), for which there is the image below, the reference for this was found online.
And the second journalist was the author of a number of books, Charles Carleton Coffin.
Charles Carleton Coffin (July 26, 1823 – March 2, 1896) was an American journalist, war correspondent, author and politician. Coffin was one of the best-known newspaper correspondents of the American Civil War. He has been called "the Ernie Pyle of his era," and a biographer, W.E. Griffis, referred to him as "a soldier of the pen and knight of the truth."
Long opposed to slavery and secession, there would be no question of Charles Coffin's loyalty to the Union cause but, due to the old ankle injury, military service which demanded long marches was not an option. It was Massachusetts Senator Henry Wilson who suggested to Charles that his eye for detail and his command of language would make him an ideal person to cover the war as a correspondent. On his own, and not employed by any specific newspaper, Coffin began visiting the army camps and fortifications around Washington and sending reports to a variety of newspapers. The reports included "human interest" stories obtained through interviews with military personnel ranging from newly enlisted privates to generals.
MY DAYS AND NIGHTS
ON THE
BATTLE-FIELD.
[found on Gutenberg-org]
BY
CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN,
AUTHOR OF “STORY OF LIBERTY,” “BOYS OF ’76,” “OUR NEW WAY ROUND THE WORLD,” “FOLLOWING THE FLAG,” “WINNING HIS WAY,” ETC.
BOSTON
DANA ESTES AND COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
Copyright, 1887,
By Estes and Lauriat
On the practice of education in the antebellum South. I found this interesting in regards to the contemporary Republican Party’s views on education.
These hard-working men did not wish to have their children grow up in ignorance. In order, therefore, that every child might become an intelligent citizen and member of society, they established common schools and founded colleges. In 1640, just twenty years after the landing at Plymouth, they had a printing-press at Cambridge.
The cavaliers of Virginia, instead of establishing schools, sent their sons to England to be educated, leaving the children of the poor men to grow up in ignorance. They did not want them to obtain an education. In 1670, fifty years after the Dutch captain had bartered off his negroes for tobacco,—fifty years from the election of the first governor by the people in the cabin of the Mayflower,—the King appointed Commissioners of Education, who addressed letters to the governors of the colonies upon the subject. The Governor of Connecticut replied, that one fourth of the entire income of the colony was laid out in maintaining public schools. Governor Berkeley, of Virginia, who owned a great plantation and many slaves, and who wanted to keep the government in the hands of the few privileged families, answered,—
“I thank God there are no free schools nor printing in this colony, and I hope we shall not have them these hundred years.”
All the Northern colonies established common schools, and liberally supported them, that every child might obtain an education. The Southern colonies, even when they became States, gave but little attention to education, and consequently the children became more ignorant than their fathers. Thus it has come to pass, that in the Northern States nearly all can read and write, while in the Southern States there are hundreds of thousands who do not know the alphabet.
In 1850 the State of Maine had 518,000 inhabitants; of these 2,134 could not read nor write, while the State of North Carolina, with a white population of 553,000, had eighty thousand native whites, over twenty years of age, who had never attended school!
The six New England States, with a population of 2,705,000, had in 1850 but eight thousand unable to read and write, while Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama—five States, with a population of 2,670,000 whites—had two hundred and sixty-two thousand, over twenty years of age, unable to read a word! In the Northern States educational facilities are rapidly increasing, while in the South they are fast diminishing. In 1857 there were 96,000 school-children in Vermont, and all but six thousand attended school. South Carolina the same year had 114,000 school-children; of these ninety-five thousand had no school privileges. Virginia had 414,000 school-children; three hundred and seventy-two thousand of them had no means of learning the alphabet!
In Missouri, in some of the counties, the school lands given by Congress have been sold, and the money distributed among the people, instead of being invested for the benefit of schools. With each generation ignorance has increased in the Southern States. It has been the design of the slaveholders to keep the poor white men in ignorance. There, neighbors are miles apart. There are vast tracts of land where the solitude is unbroken by the sounds of labor. Schools and newspapers cannot flourish. Information is given by word of mouth. Men are influenced to political action by the arguments and stories of stump-speakers, and not by reading newspapers. They vote as they are told, or as they are influenced by the stories they hear. So, when the leading conspirators were ready to bring about the rebellion, being in possession of the State governments, holding official positions, by misrepresentation, cunning, and wickedness, they were able to delude the ignorant poor men, and induce them to vote to secede from the Union.
Coffin reporting on the Battle of Shiloh.
THE ARMY AT PITTSBURG LANDING.
On the 6th and 7th of April, 1862, one of the greatest battles of the war was fought near Pittsburg Landing in Tennessee, on the west bank of the Tennessee River, about twelve miles from the northeast corner of the State of Mississippi. The Rebels call it the battle of Shiloh, because it was fought near Shiloh Church. I did not see the terrible contest, but I reached the place soon after the fight, in season to see the guns, cannon, wagons, knapsacks, cartridge-boxes, which were scattered over the ground, and the newly-made graves where the dead had just been buried. I was in camp upon the field several weeks, and saw the woods, the plains, hills, ravines. Officers and men who were in the fight pointed out the places where they stood, showed me where the Rebels advanced, where their batteries were, how they advanced and retreated, how the tide of victory ebbed and flowed. Having been so early on the ground, and having listened to the stories of a great many persons, I shall try to give you a correct account. It will be a difficult task, however, for the stories are conflicting. No two persons see a battle alike; each has his own stand-point. He sees what takes place around him. No other one will tell a story like his. Men have different temperaments. One is excited, and another is cool and collected. Men live fast in battle. Every nerve is excited, every sense intensified, and it is only by taking the accounts of different observers that an accurate view can be obtained.
It was a terrible fight. The loss on each side was nearly equal,—about thirteen thousand killed, wounded, and missing, or twenty-six thousand in all. I had a friend killed in the fight on Sunday,—Captain Carson, commanding General Grant’s scouts. He was tall and slim, and had sparkling black eyes. He had travelled all over Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee, had often been in the Rebel camps. He was brave, almost fearless, and very adroit. He said to a friend, when the battle began in the morning, that he should not live through the day. But he was very active, riding recklessly through showers of bullets. It was just at sunset when he rode up to General Grant with a despatch from General Buell. He dismounted, and sat down upon a log to rest, but the next moment his head was carried away by a cannon-ball. He performed his duties faithfully, and gave his life willingly to his country.
You have seen how the army was surprised, how desperately it fought, how the battle was almost lost, how the gunboats beat back the exultant Rebels, how the victory was won. Beauregard was completely defeated; but he telegraphed to Jefferson Davis that he had won a great victory. This is what he telegraphed—
“Corinth, April 8th, 1862.
“To the Secretary of War, Richmond:— “We have gained a great and glorious victory. Eight to ten thousand prisoners and thirty-six pieces of cannon. Buell reinforced Grant, and we retired to our intrenchments at Corinth, which we can hold. Loss heavy on both sides.
“Beauregard.”
You see that, having forsworn himself to his country, he did not hesitate to send a false despatch, to mislead the Southern people and cover up his mortifying defeat.
The Rebel newspapers believed Beauregard’s report. One began its account thus:—
“Glory! glory! glory! victory! victory! I write from Yankee papers. Of all the victories that have ever been on record, ours is the most complete. Bull Run was nothing in comparison to our victory at Shiloh. General Buell is killed, General Grant wounded and taken prisoner. Soon we will prove too much for them, and they will be compelled to let us alone. Our brave boys have driven them to the river, and compelled them to flee to their gunboats. The day is ours.”
The people of the South believed all this; but when the truth was known their hopes went down lower than ever, for they saw it was a disastrous defeat. On the Sabbath after the battle, the chaplains of the regiments had religious exercises. How different the scene! Instead of the cannonade, there were prayers to God. Instead of the musketry, there were songs of praise. There were tears shed for those who had fallen, but there were devout thanksgivings that they had given their lives so freely for their country and for the victory they had achieved by their sacrifice.
One of the chaplains, in conducting the service, read a hymn, commencing:
“Look down, O Lord, O Lord forgive; Let a repenting rebel live.”
But he was suddenly interrupted by a patriotic soldier, who cried, “No sir, not unless they lay down their arms, every one of them.”
He thought the chaplain had reference to the Rebels who had been defeated.
After the battle, a great many men and women visited the ground, searching for the bodies of friends who had fallen. Lieutenant Pfieff, an officer of an Illinois regiment, was killed, and his wife came to obtain his body. No one knew where he was buried. The poor woman wandered through the forest, examining all the graves. Suddenly a dog, poor and emaciated, bounded towards her, his eyes sparkling with pleasure, and barking his joy to see his mistress. When her husband went to the army, the dog followed him, and was with him through the battle, watched over his dead body through the terrible contest, and after he was buried, remained day and night a mourner! He led his mistress to the spot. The body was disinterred. The two sorrowful ones, the devoted wife and the faithful brute, watched beside the precious dust till it was laid in its final resting-place beneath the prairie-flowers.
The importance of journalism in these times cannot be overrated. The unfortunate situation we find ourselves in is that neofascist individuals are once again using the press as a means to an end. Trump was very effective in his demagoguery in use of endless hours of coverage leading up to the 2016 presidential election. He still is in the news everyday, and has his cultish followers who would follow him into a fiery building. I hope the intent in this writing was somewhat clear.
42nd posting, July 1, 2023.