The new Pew poll shows that Americans overwhelmingly distrust news organizations now. After the release of the report, CNN bragged that they were the most trusted news network in the country, and that is true. What they don't mention is that only about 30% of people surveyed trust what they see on CNN. That's good compared to the other networks, but pitiful compared to the numbers even just a few years ago.

Some have said that business interests have ruined news. Other rebut that that's obviously not true, because business interests would try to improve trust to bring in and keep viewers. I think they're both true to an extent. Business interests focus on short term gains, and the best way to gain viewers is to sensationalize events. That will bring in tons of viewers, but those viewers aren't going to be regular viewers. Short-term thinking has helped erode viewership, but that still doesn't explain the trust issue. I could watch CNN every day for sensational stories, but that doesn't mean I trust them. Trust has been eroded by the constant partisanship and lack of any semblence of objectivity. When you can switch from CNN to FoxNews and see coverage of the same event, but it seems like they are telling two compleltely different, opposite stories, then an intelligent viewer would realize that the truth is somewhere in between, and that neither network is being truthful, both are spinning.