It has been some time since EMR visited the issue of MainStream Media (Enterprise Media) and THE ESTATES MATRIX. Among the four major projects on-going at SYNERGY one focuses on Citizen Media – the media serving the interests of the New Fourth Estate – citizens / Households.
FIFTH ESTATE OR FIFTH WHEEL
A recent discussion on Citizen Media turned up reference to ‘the fifth estate.’ It turns out that there are many voices in the ‘fifth estate’ dialogue. A quick survey revels that the ‘discussion’ of a ‘fifth estate’ appears to be among those who have not yet come to grips with the reality that the Old Fourth Estate, knighted by Edmond Burke in 1837, is dead and gone.
True believers in ‘Journalism’ cling to the delusion that the Old Fourth Estate lives on. In this context, they need a pigeon hole for the non-Enterprise ‘news and entertainment’ activity found in the electromagnetic environment – thus ‘the fifth estate’ handle.
As documented in THE ESTATES MATRIX, most of the Old Fourth Estate was SOLD OFF decades ago. That is not a bad thing unless those involved do not understand what happened.
This segment of the Old Fourth Estate is now part of the New Second Estate (Enterprises) and is known as Enterprise Media (aka, MainStream Media).
Some of the Old Fourth Estate – largely supported by First-Family-of-Journalism-Philanthropy – is now part of the New Third Estate (Institutions). It is a major component of what is known as ‘The Alternative Media.’ The Alternative Media shares the Institution Media sphere with, among others, the spinners and flacks of the Think Tank Media and the Partisan Politics Media. It is hard to tell them apart because they ALL drape themselves in the white robes of ‘Journalism’ and they frequently put on a crown labeled ‘freedom’ or ‘truth’ – but almost never ‘science.’
There is also New First Estate (Agencies) Media. Staff and consultants produce mountains of reports, data, studies, legislation and opinions for all three branches at the three current levels of Agency activity.
Finally, there is the New Fourth Estate (citizen / Household) media. This is a vast seething vat of fact, fantasy, emotion, ego and confusion facilitated by computing equipment and distributed by electronic communications and cheap paper.
The idea that the ‘journalism-based’ media is still a legitimate ‘fourth estate’ that is trying to provide citizens / Households with the information they need to make intelligent decisions in the voting booth and in the marketplace is preposterous. See THE ESTATES MATRIX
The idea that, beyond this ghost of estates past, there is a ‘fifth estate’ with the leverage, power, influence, impact or stature akin to Agencies, Enterprises or Institutions is preposterous squared.
If one is looking for a ‘new fifth estate’ that has economic, social and physical clout in the real world comparable to the Estates of the Realm (1304 to 1775) from which the current Four Estates emerged, the most logical candidates would be PACs and lobbyists. Or perhaps terrorists? How about the Communist Capitalist?
The yapping crowd of Bloggers and Tweeters having an Estate of their own? Please!!
ED BURKE WAS WRONG
The delusions concerning a media fourth estate and now a fifth estate is rooted in the mistake that Edmond Burke made in 1837 declaring News Media to be the Fourth Estate in the first place.
The early 1800s WAS a time when a new Estate was emerging in Europe – it came along after the Civil War in the US. But this new Estate was ‘citizens,’ not ‘media.’ The rise of citizens as an Estate reflected the tectonic plate shift that disassembled the Old First Estate and the Old Second Estate in 1775. See End Note One.
The Media of the 18th, 19th and 20th century DID represent citizens and Households – for a while. That was because citizens bought the media product – literally – to get news – the information they needed to make the transition from an agrarian society to an Urban society.
As citizens became more educated and more prosperous – the ‘rise of the Middle Class (which is also gone, see THE ESTATES MATRIX) – more and more of them voted and more and more of them could afford to buy stuff. The influence of citizens / Households grew and thus so did the influence of the media.
But as media outlets gained influence they also made money and that attracted the New Second Estate. When the founders of the First Families of Journalism got tired, and the next generation got lazy, almost all the old line media outlets sold out to Enterprises. Those that did not sell out, morphed to become stockholder / balance sheet accountable Enterprises. This allowed First Family of Journalism members could get their money out of the media activity without an outright sale.
Most of the NEW media outlets have been started and / or agglomerated by Enterprises because it required capital to get into and stay in a field dominated by Enterprises. (Electronic media allowed some entities that did not generate much cash flow to exist but that is another story for another time.)
This is not ‘good’ or ‘bad’ it is a fact.
‘Journalist’ and the schools of journalism and the journalism foundations supported by First-Family-of-Journalism-Philanthropy have not yet come to grips with the reality that Enterprise Media cannot not REALLY support the ethics and goals of ‘Journalism.’
Morally and legally, Enterprise Media answers first to the stockholders. If the owners of a media outlet have goals other than maximizing profit, they are by definition an Institution and the owners are not stockholders. See Robert Reich on the impossibility to serve two goals in Supercapitalism.
There is no question that journalism is a profession and there IS a great Journalism in the sky. Journalism (capital ‘J’) is guided by principles that benefit all four Estates. However, medicine is a profession, law is a profession, plumbing is a profession,… One does not see doctors, lawyers and plumbers calling themselves an Estate.
CITIZEN MEDIA
Because citizen / Households (The New Fourth Estate) are not getting the information they need to make intelligent decisions in the voting booth and in the marketplace, there is a desperate need for Citizen Media – media serving the Fourth Estate.
If one doubts that, check out The Anger of Ignorance that can be found in Enterprise Media and especially in Institutional Media.
In the view of SYNERGY, the only way citizens will get the information they need is to have their own Estate-serving media. The challenges for Citizen Media are:
1. Generating a process to gather, analyze, vet and present data / information related to the scales and range of interest of citizens that effectively involves journalists and the principles of Journalism. Journalism IS important, just not AS important as journalists tell each other.
2. Successfully involving volunteers in the gathering, analysis, vetting and distribution of information and in facilitating the cross-platform, cross-generation and cross-socioeconomic self-identification to reach a clear majority of citizens in any Alpha Community.
Volunteers are essential because that is the only way any Organization (in this case an Institution serving citizen communication needs) can afford to operate, AND
Because it is the only way to generate a sufficient level of awareness, interest, understanding and action across multiple scales and multiple topics to achieve the goal of proving the information needed for citizen to make intelligent decisions in the marketplace and in the voting booth. Survival of civilization depends on achieving those goals. (See PROPERTY DYNAMICS and the potential of understanding THE CURRENT TRAJ
ECTORY.) AND
Because advertising as a source of supporting the media is dying. Citizens do not believe advertising. Advertising driven Mass OverConsumption has led to debt, hardship and disintegration of a stable society.
Much of The Great Recession’s overhang is due to the failure of advertising to ‘stimulate.’ That is a good thing because there is a dwindling supply of resources to satisfy that stimulated consumption. See THE CURRENT TRAJECTORY for documentation that the Invisible Hand is far ahead of the ‘leaders.’
3. Establishing a clear understanding of the components of human settlement. That requires a comprehensive Conceptual Framework and a robust Vocabulary to articulate that Framework.
These tools are necessary so that citizens can identify where they are and where they want and need to go – literally. Where IS my Dooryard, Cluster, Neighborhood, Village, Community, SubRegion, New Urban Region – or what ever one chooses to call them.
Citizens and the media that support them must have this understanding so they can sort out what is important information, what is interesting information and what is entertainment and hype. See PRIMER
Without a comprehensive Conceptual Framework and a robust Vocabulary, citizens and their Households are adrift. Due to Geographic Illiteracy and Spacial Ignorance they do not even know they are lost.
It will be a while before most journalists understand this but until they do, citizens will continue to flounder without the information they need to make decisions in their own economic, social and physical best interest.
CITIZEN MEDIA IN CONTEXT: THE BOTTOM LINE
Observer recently posted a comment on “A Serious Proposal for Restoring Fiscal Sanity” (14 Nov 2010) concerning a discussion of legislative process and the role of / need for super majorities. The observation can be found in End Note Two. Observer ended the comment with this observation:
“…even these changes will make little difference – in fact they will not happen – until citizens have better information upon which to make decisions in the voting booth and in the marketplace that reflect citizen / Household best interests.”
In fact citizens cannot make well informed decisions on their own best interest on ANY topic until they have a reliable source of sound information.
That is true for Fundamental Transformation of human settlement patters,
That is true for Fundamental Transformation of governance structure (the topic Observer was addressing)
That is true for Fundamental Transformation of the economic system.
Without a reliable source of sound information democracy and market economies are not possible or as noted in “The Bottom Line in 500 Words”:
On a small planet with Global economic, social and physical interconnections, GROSS INEQUITY at the Community-, SubRegional-, Regional-, MegaRegional- and continental-scales OR between ethnic and religious groups is NOT sustainable.
All citizens must have the opportunity to prosper based on effort, ability and acceptance of responsibility for their actions – individual and collective. Success cannot be based on gambling, happenstance and inheritance or on inequitable distribution of resources and opportunity.
Avoiding Collapse of civilization as-it-has-evolved and the survival for Homo sapiens comes down to understanding that:
In a ‘flat’ world with:
1. wide-spread literacy,
2. Instant communications / information dissemination, and
3. Wide distribution of weapons of mass destruction / massive stockpiles of weapons of conventional destruction / ubiquitous access to weapons of inter-personal destruction:
There is no alternative but to make Fundamental Transformations of governance structure. These transformations can facilitate evolution of Fundamental Transformation of humans settlement patterns and of economic systems. These three Transformations are imperative if citizens are to achieve a sustainable trajectory for their civilization.
The question remains:
Will the genetic proclivities toward competition, acquisition, consumption and xenophobia that got Homo sapiens to this point in their evolution prevent the emergence of an Urban society with a sustainable trajectory?
EMR
END NOTES
1. A Note of clarification on THE ESTATES MATRIX – PART TWO of TRILO-G.
It is well documented that the evolution of the Estates of the Realm evolved in different ways in different empires, kingdoms and principalities up until 1775. Depending on who held the most cards at a particular time in a specific location the sphere labeled First Estate (Nobility OR Clergy) and Second Estate (Clergy OR Nobility) varied. In THE ESTATES MATRIX it is assumed that Nobility is the First Estate and Clergy the Second Estate. That makes the transitions after 1775 easier to explain. The Nobility is replaced by Agencies (Of the people, by the people) as the First Estate and the former nobility became a class within the Third Estate (Institution). The Clergy slipped from being the Second Estate to become a part of the Third Estates (Institution) and is replaced by Enterprises as the Second Estate reflecting the rise of Capitalism and Urbanization.
2. Observers comment on the legislative process and the requirement for super majorities to pass legislation in “A Serious Proposal for Restoring Fiscal Sanity” 14 Nov 2010:
“To several of us (perhaps a majority?) much in this string of comments is pointless.
“The comments are trapped under a number of dangerous assumptions:
“First they are trapped under the false assumption that it makes sense to have only three levels of governance (Agency) that correspond to the late 18th century agrarian society model – municipal, state and federal. New levels of Agency must evolve to reflect economic, social and physical reality.
“Second it is trapped in 14th century idea the highest level of governance has the final say on EVERYTHING. In this context, the only plurality threshold that counts is at the federal level.
“Third it is trapped in the assumption every decision needs to have the same plurality threshold – the same for setting speed limits and for doubling the debt limit.
“Fourth it is trapped in the assumption that once passed every law is good FOREVER. Scaled sunset provisions should apply to all legislation, to all regulation and TO most judicial decisions. “Is this STILL the right thing to be doing??”
“And even these changes will make little difference – in fact they will not happen – until citizens have better information upon which to make decisions in the voting booth and in the marketplace about citizen / Household best interests.
“Professor Risse is working on a note re ‘the new fifth estate’ that may touch on this.
Observer
