The Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corporation (also referred to as Fourth Estate) is an international, non-partisan, human rights, membership organization dedicated to a strong free press. Organized as a public benefit cooperative, a type of member social cooperative, members of the Fourth Estate are both individuals and organizations representing news producers as well as consumers. Its name references a segment of society that wields an indirect, but significant, influence on society even though it is not a formally recognized part of the political system.