Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States and the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, said thus: "Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate to prefer the latter." Simply put, Jefferson trusted the Fourth Estate more than the government to run the affairs of a country.
So, the question is, a pissing contest between the press and the government, who wins? Against the chagrin of any regime, experience has it that the media, on whose side the citizens are mostly aligned, wins.