Statistical results of opinion polls vary, but they all indicate that the public's trust in news media is at an all time low. And its not just President Trump that's concerned about “fake news.” The public has serious reservations about whether the news reports they read are factual or simply “made-up.” Fake news, in one form or another, has been around for so long that almost half of the public thinks it has learned how to determine if news is reliable. The reliability of the report is largely based on the reliability of the agency doing the reporting. News reports that have to be retracted and apologized for have become common.
The public didn't lose its respect for news media overnight. Its taken several years and developed in stages. Decades ago, when television was in its infancy, news reports may have been slanted but there were a variety of opinions being expressed. But as television viewing became more prominent, the three major networks – ABC, NBC, and CBS, became so firmly established that they told the public what to think. These self-anointed experts thought they were better qualified than the public to decide what kind of society was needed. So, based on the philosophy “the end justifies the means”, networks stopped presenting the other side of the story.
