With 2024 in the rearview mirror and 2025 just begun, perhaps a moment of reflection is warranted for the not-so-sudden demise of the formerly vaunted Fourth Estate. Its position atop the cultural landscape has been rejected by much of the Western world, and it exists now as an artifact that resides in nostalgia more than zeitgeist. It was an avoidable self-immolation. But what will rise from the ashes? And will the fresh phoenix be any better?
