Muzzling media is a disservice to the citizen

BY MUGAMBI NANDI

KENYA: The term “Fourth Estate” was coined centuries ago to refer to powerful forces and influential persons outside the established social power structure. Edmund Burke, a member of the House of Commons of Great Britain in the 18th Century, popularised the term when he said that there were three Estates in Parliament, but in the Reporters’ Gallery, there sat “a Fourth Estate more important far than they all”. The Estates of the Realm referred to the social hierarchy in Europe in the Middle Ages, where the clergy, the nobility and the commoners were ranked in that order of importance. (Due to their imaginary proximity to deity, the clergy occupied the exalted position of the First Estate).