Fourth and Fifth Estates

Fascinating column at Poynter about the Fourth Estate and an emerging Fifth Estate.  This has everything to do with how people consume news and information today -- for good, or for ill -- since the Fifth Estate does commit occasional acts of journalism, just not necessarily in the traditional manner.

According to the column (which I encourage you to read):

The Fifth Estate includes specialized Web sites, online news providers, bloggers, aggregators, commentators and much more, a virtual buffet for consumers hungry for news and information. But for all its innovation, the Fifth Estate is still heavily dependent on content generated by the Fourth Estate.

 There's a lot more, but I hate to cut-and-paste when you can just check it out yourself.  The point is, this new, emerging, dynamic, ethically-challenged Fifth Estate may very well revolutionize how the Fourth Estate operates.  And, obviously, this will affect what people know.  And how people come to know it.