Editors' Note: Cracks in the Foundation of the Fourth Estate

Abstract

Editors' Note:Cracks in the Foundation of the Fourth Estate The SAIS Review Editorial Board The role of the media as the "fourth estate" of public life and international politics has long been defined by its role as a provider of information and a check on state power. However, emerging challenges to freedom of the press worldwide are threatening to reshape this role. Authoritarian regimes seeking to control access to information are not the only source of this threat: in some countries, democratically-elected leaders have begun referring to journalists as adversaries, purveyors of "fake news" who should be ignored, and in some cases, prosecuted. Even in the United States, a country with freedom of the press enshrined in its constitution, journalists face growing hostility from policymakers, the public, and even the president, who has gone as far as labeling the press "dangerous" and "sick." Members of the press have long endured such vitriol—mocking journalists was in vogue even in the days of Oscar Wilde, who wrote, almost in the style of today's presidential tweet: "In old days men had the rack. Now they have the Press. That is an improvement certainly. But still it is very bad, and wrong, and demoralizing."1 Yet compared to statements on the media made by leaders such as Brazilian President-elect Jair Bolsonaro, Wilde's indictment of the press almost seems polite. Today, the line between verbal admonishment and physical violence is becoming increasingly blurred. Even Wilde, despite his disdain for the press, would likely have been appalled by the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, or the forty-five other journalists who were killed because of their work in 2018.2 The liberal democratic conception of the press as an institution that serves as a check on state power is also facing another challenge in the form of alternative media models that emphasize the primacy of the state. Harnessing new technology and exploiting social media platforms, governments such as Russia's are using media as a weapon to shape the opinion of the public not only at home but within other societies to serve political objectives. China is entering a golden age of censorship and has begun teaching officials in countries along its Belt and Road Initiative how to replicate the Chinese state-controlled media model. Meanwhile, changes in the production and consumption of media are leading to shifts in public perceptions of what the role of the media in politics [End Page 1] should be. Social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are displacing traditional media companies as the chief disseminators of information. As web-based media platforms proliferate, citizens and policymakers alike are faced with a rapidly shrinking set of common facts with which to debate. Issue 38, Volume 2 of the SAIS Review reflects on the various changes in the relationship between states and the media in today's world as technology, local politics, and broader international trends change how journalism is produced and consumed by policymakers and the broader public. In an attempt to offer a comprehensive account of the challenges facing the fourth estate today, this issue features writing from academic experts and members of the media who have contended with these challenges directly. We begin with a look at the evolving media environment in the United States and its potential implications for US foreign policy. SAIS Europe professor and former New York Times editorial writer David C. Unger kicks off the issue by describing the pressures the mainstream news media in the US has faced over the past several decades, and takes a critical look at the effect these pressures have had on the media's role in politics and foreign policy. Patrick Butler, president of America's Public Television Stations and a founder of the Times Mirror Center for the People & the Press, provides a historical account of the evolution of press freedom in the United States, and how public trust in the media has changed over time. Next, we turn to the myriad threats facing journalists throughout the world. Arbana Xharra, an award-winning journalist from Kosovo who has faced threats of violence, legal persecution, and intimidation for her work investigating government corruption...