They do not have editorial control. Do they have considerable indirect means to try to influence the media? Of course. But they hardly have a monopoly on that,

They do not have editorial control. Do they have considerable indirect means to try to influence the media? Of course. But they hardly have a monopoly on that, which is the key point. When you say "the government controls the media" one has to assume you are saying editorial control, otherwise it's a rather meaningless statement (e.g. "advertisers control the media" or "owners control the media" or "PR firms control the media" etc.). And it certainly not the case that the government has editorial control over the media. If that were the case, would the NY Times have published the Snowden leaks?