4 MIN READ

By RUDY D. LIPORADA
www.nordis.net

The adage the “pen is mightier than the sword” may now be passé’ with the advent of the internet where one can blog, do podcasts, tweet, text, or still traditionally write as a journalist. Nonetheless, the adage is still applicable in the sense that he who controls the airwaves has power over the minds of the people; he who could blog, podcasts, tweet, text, or write as a journalist has the power to influence the directions of society.

That power primarily rests with the Fourth Estate.

The term Fourth Estate, historically, is known to have been attributed to parliamentary reporters in 1787 by Anglo-Irish politician and author Edmund Burke. The three other estates then were the king, lords, and commons. Earlier, the parliamentary reporters were also referred to as the press, derived at the heel of the evolution of the ‘machine for printing’ in the 1530s where slugs of letters were pressed on paper to print news. The term NEWS refer to events coming from the North, East, West, and South.

Eventually, as press writers were actually journaling events, they started to be collectively called as journalists. In the advent of television (TV) in 1927, added to radio, writers for the newspapers, radio, and TV, were collectively called as media writers for the collective outlet of their writings as mass media.

Whether called press, journalists, or media, the  writers strove to fulfill their function as vanguards or watchdogs to keep the modern kings, lords, or commons – government personalities and entities in line – see to it that they are doing their functions as defined by their job descriptions. Most countries have enshrined this function of Fourth Estate writers in the bill of rights  of their constitutions like in the United States and the Philippines. Under their constitutions, no laws should be passed to curtail the provisions in the bill of rights on press freedom. Moreover, public officials are also open to any criticisms for that is what they are – public officials – and cannot cry foul for any valid criticisms from these writers.

The evolution of huge computers to become popular household desktop computers in the early 1970s were followed by laptops, tablets, and cell phones. The website ‘Six Degrees’ which was launched in 1997 was the first to be dubbed as a social media. From it, the internet entered the era of instant messaging ang blogging. In 2004, Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook which became a humongous social media boasting a billion users. Texting and use of the twitter also evolved. Websites and blog platforms were developed with their dedicated and loyal followings.

Almost everyone of the billions of users of social media and growing have a say, for or against an issue or just to be informative on anything, ridiculous or scientific. 

Thus, emerged the Fifth Estate. It is the use of the social media, apart from personal stuff, to critique, negatively or positively the modern kings, lords, and commons. Thus, the Estates that are areas of power in nations like the Philippines are no longer, as  originally, for centuries of old, dominated by government and religious power over the lives of every person in the world. Now regular people matter because they could act collectively with power independent of government or church.

Nonetheless, the press, media or journalists , although of the Fourth Estate, are also the stalwarts of the Fifth Estate. They lead the social media collective power to critique the modern kings, lords, and commons. For one thing, their newsprint, radio, and TV outlets have their own websites, bloggers, and platforms. Compared to the other members of the social media collectives who are more or less individuals, the journalists like columnists have “potential and real influence on contemporary policy-making, especially in the context of elections, reporting from conflict zones and raising dissent over corporate or legislative bodies” according to noted researcher-writer Al-Rodhan.

Governments like President Rodrigo ‘Digong’ Duterte’s who has been and is being barraged with criticism from the Fourth and Fifth due to his unfulfilled election campaign promises – elimination of corruption, hoax failed drug war, industrialization, elimination of contractualization, land reform, bringing home OFWs as there should be employment in the country, peace with the insurgents, no foreign domination, etc. – seek to counteract the Fourth and Fifth Estates with his army of trolls. He has also instituted the Anti-Terror Law which endangers the lives of those who contradict his policies. Moreover, tagging journalists as terrorists has become prevalent resulting already in the incarceration and death of a number of journalists.

His minions have managed to incarcerate Maria Ressa, journalist for the Rappler and not renew the franchise of the ABS-CBN even if the agencies like the BIR, NBI, other related concerned agencies have declared that the network has not violated any laws or policies.  

With regard to ABS-CBN, Inday Espina Varona, a columnist has this to say: “Amazing how Congress sees itself as judge, jury and executioner of ABS-CBN in the name of Rodrigo Duterte. Tax cases are first heard by the BIR and tax courts and can be challenged all the way to SC. (They spout off some ridiculous fine based on imaginary crimes that are actually BIR-approved tax methods.) But then these are the same legislators who refused to listen to facts laid down by heads of regulatory agencies. Obviously, given how exec branch agencies refused to legitimize the fantastical tales raised during congressional hearings, they don’t want to deal with the courts, too.

“But then these are also legislators from the same bloc that passed terror legislation that actually makes mincemeat of the judiciary. Are these congressmen ignorant or totally unconcerned about legalities? They don’t talk like lawmakers. They talk like henchmen of some mafia boss. But their faces show fear. They know they look ridiculous. But they latch onto lies in a desperate bid to stall snowball of rage. Guess it’s hard for people who really have contempt for citizens to realize that their arguments are not being bought.

“As Marley says, you can fool some people sometimes, you can’t fool all the people all the time.”

In the end, Fourth and Fifth Estate writers of mass and social media merely express their voices in print and radio and TV airwaves in the arena of contending ideas where the people, in time, will be the final judge of which truth shall prevail. # nordis.net