General Question

occ's avatar

Where does the term "fourth estate" come from?

Asked by occ (4176points) March 6th, 2007
it's often used to refer to journalism or the journalist world---wondering where the term came from, and if there is a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd estate?
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4 Answers

Modern_Classic's avatar
Very OED. I thought it had to do with 1=Executive Branch, 1=Legislature, 3=Judiciary, 4=Free Press. I think I had social studies teacher in 7th grade who said that. Made sense to me.
frydeyes's avatar
french revolution -1st,2nd,3rd,estates government -press important enough to be 4th-if my memory serves

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