Fourth Estate

The term Fourth Estate or fourth power refers to the press and news media in their explicit capacity, beyond the reporting of news, of wielding influence in politics. The derivation of the term arises from the traditional European concept of the three estates of the realm: the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners.

The equivalent term fourth power is somewhat uncommon in English, but it is used in many European languages to refer to a government's separation of powers into legislative, executive, and judicial branches.