Of reporters, repeaters, and  the Fourth and Fifth estates

In this column this week, I wish to share two interesting contemporary “theories” on media, if I may call them so. They are the “Fifth Estate” as opposed to the “Fourth Estate” that we commonly know of, and the notion of “reporters” vs “repeaters”. 

First to the “Fifth Estate”. Just what is it and how does it differ from the “Fourth Estate” beyond the sequential Arabic numerals?

Well, “the Fifth Estate is a socio-cultural reference to groupings of outlier viewpoints in contemporary society, and is most associated with bloggers, journalists publishing in non-mainstream media outlets, and the social media or ‘social licence’.” 

According to media scholar William Dutton, “the Fifth Estate is not simply the blogging community, nor an extension of the media, but ‘networked individuals’ enabled by the Internet, e.g. social media, in ways that can hold the other estates accountable”. –Wikipedia  

As for the Fourth Estate, this term comes from “the medieval European concept of the three estates of the realm – the clergy, the nobility and the commoners. ...It has come to symbolise the media or press as a segment of society that has an indirect but key role in influencing the political system” as the additional “estate”.

Today, however, at least in Uganda and much of Africa, the estates concept has been localised to mean the “arms of government” with the executive being the first, legislature the second, judiciary the third and the press/media the fourth. The clergy is somewhere between the executive and the powerless wananchi. The Fifth Estate therefore effectively becomes the other “arm of government” or citizens operating outside the traditional four but checking them – in reality or illusion. 

As for the notion “reporters” vs “repeaters”, this was postulated just the other day by Brian Stelter, chief media correspondent for CNN and host of the CNN programme, “Reliable Sources”. He was speaking on his show about Americans’ falling trust in the media and this clip was, incredibly, shared on the Fifth Estate – Twitter to be precise! 

Yes, we know who “reporters” are. They are the journalists we watch on TV reporting from far flung areas or in community, whose bylines we read in newspapers telling us stories of what happened yesterday? Or the voices we hear on radio reporting news, interviewing newsmakers, etc.

Who then are the “repeaters”? Stelter says “…repeaters are the talk radio or talk-show shouters that tell us to hate the other side. They are on TV and radio telling us the same story every day. 

They are like one American news [channel] which replays Donald Trump’s lies every day... Repeaters are all over Facebook and hyper-partisan private groups [Whatsapp, etc] that cherry-pick stories, share memes… Repeaters are Twitter trolls who anonymously amplify propaganda and try to wear the rest of us down with their repetition.”

He adds: “So much of what they are repeating. So much of the raw material for radio ‘yakers’, for Facebook posters and the rest is from reporters; from people paid to figure out what is true, not what they might want to be true!” The repeaters pick it up, twist it and share it again and again!

It is clear from the above that the role of the “reporter” is to inform accurately so that the public can make decisions from an informed perspective. On the other hand, the role of the “repeaters” is mostly to misinform and shape public opinion not on the basis of facts or truth but lies repeated over and over again.

Curiously, while the “reporters” are naturally domiciled and ply their trade in the “Fourth Estate”, and the “repeaters” are domiciled and thrive in the “Fifth Estate”, there is increasingly an intersection of the two. Thus many “reporters” exploiting the power, ease and spread of the Internet do credible reporting of news and events using social media platforms. Conversely, many “repeaters” have found space inside the established “Fourth Estate” and use its credibility to amplify propaganda and misinformation to be more believable. 

Here in Uganda, you only need to spend a few hours on social media to tell who are the “reporters” plying their trade in the Fifth Estate, and a few more hours listening to radio, watching TV or reading newspapers to pick out who are the “repeaters” hiding in the “Fourth Estate”.
As Stelter surmises, “reporting adds value and repeating often subtracts value”! 

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