In this episode of "Try to Control Your Shock and Amazement"...

According to a new survey conducted by Gallup — are you sitting down? — Americans across the political spectrum have moved beyond disillusionment into full-blown distrust of the mass media.

The 32% of Americans who say they trust the mass media '"a great deal" or "a fair amount'" to report the news in a full, fair, and accurate way ties Gallup's lowest historical reading, previously recorded in 2016.

Is it any wonder?

The 32% of Americans who say they trust the mass media “a great deal” or “a fair amount” to report the news in a full, fair and accurate way ties Gallup’s lowest historical reading, previously recorded in 2016. https://t.co/2QYhLCqFJN

— GallupNews (@GallupNews) October 19, 2023

Conversely, the survey found that 29 percent of American adults have "not very much trust" in the media, while nearly four out of 10 — 39 percent — have "none at all."

Given the hyperpartisanship that has metastasized throughout the U.S. media over the last six to eight years, anyone surprised by Gallup's findings has either been living in a cave or has managed to avoid all contact with mankind, and access to the news and goings-on of these turbulent time.

And Those Who DO Trust the Media?

I remain convinced that the vast majority of people who regularly watch any given news outlet(s) or read any given political site(s) — conservative or liberal — do so for two primary reasons: 

First, they want to be told what they already believe, and, second, they believe their opinions are validated when they see or read their favorite media heroes say or write the same thing(s).

The Blurring of Facts, Opinions, and Conspiracy Theories

The late Democrat senator and statesman Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said: 

You are entitled to your own opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts. 

Big problem. Huge problem — for the left, as it relates to today's political reality. Take "science," for example, and how the Democrats continued to bastardize the hell out of it, as COVID-19 facts no longer supported their histrionic narrative.

It should be noted that the Democrat Party of Moynihan's days of course bears little resemblance, if any, to the far-left Democrat Party's socialism and wokeism of today. Nevertheless, Moynihan's assertion remains fundamentally true. 

So here's the thing. 

Problems continue to compound with respect to trust in the media for multiple reasons — the principal among them being: who fact-checks the fact-checkers? 

Also, credibility suffers when untold millions of Americans get their "news" and/or "facts" from the social media cesspool, or elsewhere — without bothering to take the time to educate themselves — or at least, to look for reputable third-party sources before running their mouths or firing up their keyboards. The list goes on.

Also not shocking, Democrats have historically trusted the mass media more so than Republicans. 

Given the combined viewership of CBSNBCABCMSNBC, and even CNN, the proof is in the biased pudding, which is precisely why the "mainstream" [rolling-eyes emoji] media have attempted to portray Fox News as practically Satan's own media outlet.

The above said, even Democrat trust in the media has now matched its record low of 2016. Why? 

I can only speculate that the mere existence of Fox News, along with the continuing growth and influence of conservative "citizen journalism," is at play.

Meanwhile, the band plays on. And the divisiveness in this country only continues to harden and grow.