The
Fifth Estate is a socio-cultural reference to groupings of outlier viewpoints in contemporary society, and is most associated with
bloggers,
journalists, and non-mainstream media outlets. The "Fifth" Estate extends the sequence of the three classical
Estates of the Realm and the proceeding
Fourth Estate, essentially the mainstream press. The use of "fifth estate" dates to the
1960s counterculture, and in particular the influential
The Fifth Estate, an underground newspaper first published in Detroit in 1965,