journalism

Eyewitness: The Death Of Journalism

Posted on November 22, 2019November 22, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

news bldg — The News Building, Athens GA

The Fourth Estate. A phrase coined back in the mid 1700s by British politician Edmund Burke, or by Lord Brougham in 1823, depending on the source. The Three Estates in feudal times were the socio-economic divisions between classes, loosely divided by three Estates of the Clergy (First Estate), Nobility (Second Estate), and Shire Commissioners, knights or burghers (Third Estate).

The press as a Fourth Estate was never considered part of the societal structure but is deliberately outside of them all. This is because the role of the media was to be the watchdog of the other three ‘estates’ when one or more of them went awry, and to give voice to the people. It was supposed to be an advocate for the people, particularly the “voiceless.” Continue reading “Eyewitness: The Death Of Journalism” →

journalism

Best meteor headline goes to: Boston Globe

Posted on February 16, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Romanesko has the story:
“Admittedly, I’m biased, as both a Thomas Pynchon idolator and Globe staffer (though I had nothing to do this hed and don’t know who did),” writes Mark Feeney. “But this hed for our two p. 1 stories today on the Russian meteorite has to be one of the year’s best. ‘A screaming comes across the sky’ is great in and of itself, being both accurate and vivid — and as any Pynchon fan can tell you it’s also the first sentence of his masterpiece, ‘Gravity’s Rainbow.’”

See today’s Boston Globe front page (newseum.org)