The Beginning of The Fourth
We're launching our investigative & impact journalism collective soon – and we'll need your help.
Dear friends and supporters,
Welcome to the very first issue of The Fourth Newsletter, where we’ll keep you informed about our latest investigations, social justice campaigns, events, and more.
But more importantly, it’s where you’ll find out what YOU can do to defend social justice, as a member of The Fourth. We’ll be sending regular calls for action, whether it’s for a Fourth project, or any social justice movement from our friends in the activism world.
There’s a lot of work to be done, so let’s get started.
P.S. What do you think about the idea of The Fourth? What issues should we cover? Drop us a comment to let us know.
Happy holidays!
The Fourth Team.
WHAT IS THE FOURTH?
We are an independent collective of award-winning investigative journalists based in Kuala Lumpur on a simple mission – to use investigative journalism, impact campaigns, and awesome digital content to mobilise public action on social justice causes.
Our team has travelled around the globe – to Bangladesh, Cambodia, Hong Kong and more – to investigate and create impact on issues ranging from human trafficking to child sexual crimes.
We’ve gone undercover to expose wildlife smugglers, sex predators, human traffickers, and more; all the while working with stakeholders, authorities, and – most importantly – people like yourselves to solve those issues.
But probably the most common question we get is what we call the WTF question - Why The Fourth? What’s up with the name?
Well, that’s because we firmly believe in the role of the news media as The Fourth Estate. Governments are typically made of three branches – the Legislature, the Executive, and the Judiciary. The media is supposed to act as a Fourth Estate to hold these three branches accountable, and speak on behalf of the people.
And we know – these days, not a lot of people trust the media to play that role, and that’s something we hope to change. We are committed to:
Produce high quality, independent investigative journalism
Defend social justice through impact campaigns
Train and support others to do the same
If that sounds cool to you, you’re in the right place. Together, we can help rebuild a Fourth Estate that will defend the people, and speak truth to power.
PROJECTS BY THE FOURTH
1. “THE SAMA-SAMA PROJECT”
The first thing you could do to help The Fourth – support The Sama-Sama Project!
It’s a new video series we’re working on (currently in pre-production) where we conduct a social experiment to see if we can get two “opposing” groups of people – who completely disagree on a hot-button topic – to have an empathetic, constructive conversation.
If you’re tired of people constantly yelling at each other on the news or on social media, then this project is for you.
In fact, you can be part of the video series! We’re auditioning for people to be part of the social experiment, which we’ll be shooting in January 2021 in KL.
2. OUR FIRST VIDEO: What would you do with a million dollars?
We asked teenagers at PPR flats (low-cost housing projects in Malaysia) what they’d do if they had a million dollars, and their answers will absolutely warm your heart!
Huge thanks to Arus Academy, an amazing organisation dedicated to helping students from underprivileged communities, for commissioning us to make this.
WORK WITH US!
Aside from being a member of The Fourth, you can also support us by working with us! We’re looking for freelancers, interns, and volunteers to help with a few ongoing projects and investigations.
AMPLIFY OUR WORK
It’s not easy for projects and content like ours to cut through the noise on social media, and that’s where YOU come in.
Every comment, share, and like on our social media posts make a big difference to the cause.
So please, if you haven’t already, follow us not only to get updates, but to start sharing social justice content as well:
That’s it from us! Thank you so much for subscribing, and we hope you all have a great holiday season ahead. And since everyone is already saying it to us, we might as well say it back: May The Fourth be with you.
#WeAreTheFourth
Any ideas for new social impact campaigns? Or maybe you just wanna say hi to our team? Drop them here in the comments!