Question of the Day #90

"Trump has further hobbled himself by waging his two-front feud with the intelligence community and the Fourth Estate."
From this article at the Atlantic.

上記の文で、Fourth Estateの意味は？
In the sentence above, what does "Fourth Estate" mean?

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Write your answer in the Comments.

明日、ここに答えを書きます。
I will add the answer and other remarks here tomorrow.

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解答

意味： 英辞郎によると、


1. 言論界◆ジャーナリズムの別名
2. 言論界の人々◆ジャーナリストの別名
3. 言論界の人々が持つ政治的影響力

Answer

According to Dictionary.com:

1. the journalistic profession or its members; the press.
2. a group other than the usual powers, as the three estates of France,that wields influence in the politics of a country.

Etymology/語源

Wikipediaによると、

Fourth Estateは、もともと教会、貴族、平民の続く４番目の「権力」のことを言った。イギリスのEdmund Burkeが１７８７年のイギリス国会で初めて報道機関意味で使ったとされているが、Oxford Dictionariesによるとこれは確認されていない。

According to Wikipedia:

Thomas Carlyle attributed the origin of the term to Edmund Burke, who used it in a parliamentary debate in 1787 on the opening up of press reporting of the House of Commons of Great Britain. However, according to Oxford Dictionaries, "its first usage with reference to the press has been attributed to Edmund Burke, but this remains unconfirmed."

Examples

• ‘copy desks are held together by the bad-news contingent of the fourth estate’
• In her book, she exhibits pronounced paranoia that the fourth estate had collaborated in one giant conspiracy against her.
• His response to the toast of the fourth estate was an apology for its behaviour to my father.
• I won't say how we prevailed with the fourth estate, except that it wasn't by bribery.