Fourth Estate (association)
The Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corporation is a United States based international, non-partisan, membership organization whose stated mission is to "contribute to a healthy society by fostering, supporting and incubating a sustainable and vibrant free press."
Organized as a multi-stakeholder new generation cooperative , members of the Fourth Estate are both individuals and organizations representing news and journalism producers as well as consumers.
AbOUT
The Fourth Estate is a mission driven Public-benefit corporation. Its national office is located Miami,Florida. Its membership is global.
Key Projects and Initiatives
First Amendment and Freedom of Press Advocacy
The Fourth Estate advocates for the First Amendment and Freedom of Press and works cooperatively with other civil-society organizations on Freedom of speech programming and initiatives.
Off the Record
The Fourth Estate operated a private online social media site and mobile application named Off the Record that was available to members of the organization as well as invited guests. In December of 2017, the company announced that it would be launching Journ.Pro as a replacement for the platform.
Journalism Entrepreneurship and News Startups
The Fourth Estate operates numerous programs to foster news and journalism entrepreneurship including free and discounted web infrastructure services , entrepreneur mentorship programs, and startup seed funding.
JournSpark
JournSpark is a incubation program that provides free web hosting and support for startup digital news organizations, press clubs, or student news publications who regularly publish news and information in the public interest.
Zero Knowledge DNS
In December 2017 The Fourth Estate announced the launch of a "Secure, Encrypted, Zero Knowledge DNS Service for journalists and public interest news organizations". The service is designed to make it harder for governments, ISP’s, and/or corporations to use DNS requests to surveil journalists and news organizations.
Name server IP addresses
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Zero Knowledge DNS |
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Journalism Awards and Grants
The Fourth Estate honors journalistic excellence and innovation through various contests open to professional, collegiate and high school journalists and news organizations in all forms of media.
The Awesome Journalism grant is a monthly $1,000 micro-grant for public interest journalism projects.
Media Law Network
The Journalism and Media Law Project connects members of the Fourth Estate with access to reduced fee or pro-bono legal representation and assistance with First Amendment issues.
Advisory Boards
Journalism:
- Howard Saltz, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, South Florida Sun Sentinel
- Esther Enkin, President, Organization of News Ombudsmen
- Steve Majerus-Collins, State House Reporter, Sun Journal
- Jeffrey Dvorkin, Lecturer and Director of the Journalism Program, University of Toronto Scarborough
- Joy Mayer, Consulting Fellow, Reynolds Journalism Institute
- Michael Sallah, Sr. Investigative Reporter, Gannett/USA Today
- Bill Mitchell, Affiliate Faculty, The Poynter Institute
- Benét J. Wilson, Journalist and Blogger, Aviation Queen, LLC
- Chip Scanlan, Affiliate Faculty, Poynter Institute
- Rebekah Monson, Co-Founder, WhereBy.Us
- Ernie Hsiung, Co-Founder, Code for America
- Bryan Woolston, Photojournalist
- Greg Brooks, Principal, West Third Group
- Tom Stites, Founder/President, Banyan Project
- Alberto Cairo, Knight Chair in Visual Journalism, School of Communication - University of Miami
- Jack Lynch, Asst. Business Editor (RET), New York Times
Academic:
- Raul Reis, Ph.D., Dean, School of Communication ,Emerson College
- Jerry Ceppos, Dean, Manship School of Communication - Louisiana State University
- Brian Schriner, Dean, College of Communication, Architecture + The Arts - Florida International University
- Michelle Ferrier, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Innovation, Scripps College of Communication - Ohio University
- Rosental Alves, Director, Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas
- Meredith Clark, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Media Studies, University of Virginia
Citizen:
- Bill Bathurst
- Mimi Johnson Buttry
- Lee Scheele Jr.
Legal:
- Keith Spritz, JD,CPA, CBIZ HHM
- Joel Rothman, JD, Schneider Rothman IP Law Group
Business:
- Richard Rampell
- Felicia Hatcher-Pearson
- Alex de Carvalho
- Saif Ishoof
- Andrew Nachison
- Sally Outlaw
- David Cohn
- Mike O'Donnell
- Tim Thompson
- Jose Hernandez-Solaun
Litigation
Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corporation vs. Wall-Street.com et al
In March 2016, the Fourth Estate filed a federal copyright lawsuit against Wall-Street.com, LLC and Jerrold D. Burden alleging that the defendants infringed on its copyrights and intellectual property.
The case has a pending appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on the question whether registration of a copyright occurs when an application is filed (the “application approach”) or rather when the Copyright Office has approved or denied registration (the “registration approach”)
The Fourth Estate is arguing before the court that copyright owners risk losing the right to enforce their intellectual property rights in an infringement action because of the long time period the United States Copyright Office needs to review a copyright application.