The term Fourth Estate or fourth power refers to the press and news media in their explicit capacity, beyond the reporting of news, of wielding influence in politics. The derivation of the term arises from the traditional European concept of the three estates of the realm: the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners.
Their political influence is bought and paid for.
The most progressive by-the-book journalist in any corporate news stockade is going to be bent into shape as a regime-supporting centrist or they’ll be out of a job. It’s that simple.
With the job market like it is, and AI being close enough for dipshits not to notice, they’re frozen in fear and can’t bring themselves to write anything that won’t be misinterpreted as normalization of fascism.