ABSTRACT
Media distrust is a symptom of, and also contributes to, the growing partisan polarization of the American political system. Partisan polarization and political attacks on the media are not the only causes of declining trust in the media. In this environment, where people regularly choose which type of news source to use for information, one's level of trust in the mainstream news media is more consequential than ever. Starting in 1969, the administration sent Vice President Spiro Agnew to give a series of speeches over several years attacking the institutional news media. Criticism of the news media began as a tactic of the conservative movement, where it was directed at institutional news sources, such as the broadcast networks, national newspapers and later CNN, which conservatives perceived as unfriendly to them and their cause. As the news media has become a hot topic of partisan debate, confidence and trust in the media as an institution has declined and polarized.
