Contributing to a healthy society by fostering, supporting and incubating a sustainable and vibrant free press.
Join the Fourth Estate Member Login

Join the Fourth Estate

Join to access members-only benefits and discounts.

Your membership in the Fourth Estate connects you to a growing community of individuals and organizations dedicated to journalism in the public interest and united by the common desire to support a sustainable and vibrant free press.

Join Now
What is the Fourth Estate?

Who We Are

We are multi-stakeholder new generation cooperative-like organization that is designed to build a long-term, stable and sustainable economic relationship based on equity for all members of the journalism community and for the public benefit.

Learn More

Make a Difference!

Awesome Journalism Fund

We give $1,000 micro-grants to awesome journalism projects that commit a crazy, brilliant, positive act of journalism in the public interest. The Awesome Journalism Grant is available to anyone, anywhere, in any medium. The definition of “awesome” is intentionally left vague and up to...
Read More
25% Funded/$8,990 To Go

2018 Journalism unConference – Boston

More Information

 

Sponsors and Supporters

Become a sponsor

Recent News

Read All News

Become a Founding Member

Membership is the core of Fourth Estate and makes us different from other news organizations.

Apply Now!

Subscribe To the Newsletter

Stay up-to-date with the latest news and information from the Fourth Estate.

  • There are three estates in Parliament but in the Reporters’ Gallery yonder there sits a Fourth Estate more important far than they all. It is not a figure of speech or witty saying, it is a literal fact, very momentous to us in these times.

    Edmund Burke

  • Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government.

    Hugo L. Black, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

  • Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.

    Thomas Jefferson, Founding Father and principal author of the Declaration of Independence

  • Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

    Constitution of the United States of America

  • The liberty of the press is not confined to newspapers and periodicals.. … the press in its historic connotation comprehends every sort of publication which affords a vehicle of information and opinion.

    Charles Evans Hughes, 11th Chief Justice of the United States of America

  • A popular government, without popular information, or the mean of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.

    James Madison

  • The freedom of the press is one of the greatest bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic governments.

    George Mason

  • A critical, independent and investigative press is the lifeblood of any democracy. The press must be free from state interference. It must have the economic strength to stand up to the blandishments of government officials. It must have sufficient independence from vested interests to be bold and inquiring without fear or favor. It must enjoy the protection of the constitution, so that it can protect our rights as citizens.

    Nelson Mandela