The Fifth Estate Emerging through the Network of Networks
Item
Title
The Fifth Estate Emerging through the Network of Networks
Abstract/Description
The rise of the press, radio, television and other mass media enabled the development of an independent institution: the ‘Fourth Estate’, central to pluralist democratic processes. The growing use of the Internet and related digital technologies is creating a space for networking individuals in ways that enable a new source of accountability in government, politics and other sectors. This paper explains how this emerging ‘Fifth Estate’ is being established and why this could challenge the influence of other more established bases of institutional authority. It discusses approaches to the governance of this new social and political phenomenon that could nurture the Fifth Estate’s potential for supporting the vitality of liberal democratic societies.
Author/creator
Date
In publication
Volume
27
Issue
1
Pages
1-15
Resource type
Background/Context
Medium
Print
Background/context type
Conceptual
Keywords
Open access/free-text available
Yes
Peer reviewed
Yes
ISSN
0810-9028
Citation
Dutton, W. H. (2009). The Fifth Estate Emerging through the Network of Networks. Prometheus, 27(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/08109020802657453
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