#15 You're trying way too hard, Perry "bell boi" Mason.
Sure, people will view "bad news" with a jaundiced view and blame the messenger.
And the news is, unfortunately, supposed to be that messenger.
But let's take a look at what that opinion poll reveals:
Post Watergate, the trust was (in 1976) nearing 80%.
But, starting in the 1980s, that trust began to go down.
And just what happened in 1980 (or thereabouts)? The starting of the 24 hour news cycle with the launch of CNN.
In 1987, as the decline continued, the FAA decimated the "Fairness Doctrine," and the trust further erodes, but it is still above water, by many points.
In the late 1990s Fox was launched, and with its steady anti-Democratic, and-MSN drumbeat, the decline continued.
In the early 2000s, the W administration sold a bill of goods to the America people about the WMD in Iraq, and it was necessary to attack. The media reported it (the messeger), and when it was discovered that WMD was a lie and the media reported it
But some media supported the war (CNN, Drudge report, etc.), while others (so-called MSN) started having voices speaking out against that war (shades of Walter Cronkite and Vietnam - the real source of rightwing hared of MSM, along with the Nixon/Watergate 'witchhunt'
The trust deteriorates further.
In 2015 (just like earlier vis-a-vis Obama & birth certificate), the Trump starting repeating "fake news" and "fake news media" and sycophants like you nod in agreement.
Without once considering that, perhaps, this distrust in the freedom of the press coincided so nicely with the rise of rightwing bigots and anti-government zealots (Reagan and Newt), leading directly to the Trump.
And you played your sycophant role to the hilt.
Oscar-winning performance, Perry "bell boi" Mason.
And, again, do you believe that the border is secure... now?
America is for sale to the highest covert, or not so covert, bidder.
Through MAGA, the Kremlin has its paws all over the Repugnant Party as the article shows.
AIPAC has both US parties pretty much covered [from US Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to Randy "the Hebrew Ham Sandwich" Fine (R-FL)] except for "the Squad," Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-GA), US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) who caucuses with Democrats, and local leaders like NYC-Mayor elect Zohran Mamdani.
This year NYS Democrats uncovered Chinese Communist Party (CCP) spooks, one worked for disgraced Andrew Cuomo, the other for Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY).
With their influence operations on social media and the TV networks, the mega-oligarchs seem to be helping Russia (Felon Musk inciting race riots in the UK) and Israel (like CBS through Larry and David Ellison), more than they are assisting China for now.
"Spaseeba Moscow, todah rabah Israel, and xie xie Beijing!"