The fourth estate has become the fifth column.
Journalism calling itself an “estate” is anti-constitutional.The dirty little secret is that the First Amendment, like the Second and all the first eight amendments, were intended to change nothing. They were intended to do just the opposite - to assure that no change in anyone's rights would be excused by the Constitution. The Ninth Amendment essentially says so explicitly:
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.The First 8 Amendments enumerate only those rights historically abused by tyrants. The Ninth Amendment covers all other then-recognized (common law) rights. Including the right to sue for libel - which was fully understood from the adoption of 9A up to 1964 - when the Warren Court unanimously signed on to Justice Wm. Brennan’s fatuous claim that". . . libel can claim no talismanic immunity from constitutional limitations. It must be measured by standards that satisfy the First Amendment”The claim that the First Amendment modifies libel law is as fatuous as a claim that the Second Amendment modifies laws on armed assault would be.“Estates” refers to nobility or established religious priesthood. The First Amendment refers to your ability, and mine, to spend our own money promoting our own values, ideas, and beliefs without deliberately lying about anyone else.