Shocking to I'm sure not many people reading this right now, trust in mass media is lower than Lena Dunham's self-esteem on her first day of being visited by Aunt Flow*. I'll give you a minute to recover and pick your jaw up off the floor (see Top 5 Biggest Lies From Liberal Media Journalists and Liberal Media Freaks Over ‘Violent’ GIF, Downplays ACTUAL Violence at G20 Riots). Trust is not the lowest it's ever been. But it's heading in that direction bigly enough it'll give Brian Stelter the vapors.

Americans remain largely mistrustful of the mass media as 41% currently have "a great deal" or "fair amount" of trust in newspapers, television and radio to report the news "fully, accurately and fairly." This latest reading represents a four-percentage-point dip since last year and marks the end of improvements in back-to-back years after hitting an all-time low.

Nothing shocking there. Republicans like Trump. Trump dislikes the media. Republicans never likey trusted the media much in the first place. Here's the interesting thing:

69% of Democrats say they have trust and confidence in [mass media], while [only] 36% of independents agree.

Think of how few independents trust the media as we ponder the Trump Impeachment Whistleblower Palooza. Regardless of how you feel about the president in question, any president being brought up on impeachment is a major media story. One that should concern every American. For which every American should hope to get the facts.

Now look at how the mass media has been reporting in the last 24 hours alone:

The people whose job it is to get us the facts on something as serious as THE F*CKING PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES POSSIBLY BEING IMPEACHED can't be relied upon. At best. At worst, are actively NOT giving us the real story. Obviously Democrats don't care because it works in their favor... maybe. Obviously Republicans are bothered by it because it's against their guy.

The independents in the middle? According to conventional wisdom, they're the ones who decide elections. Which way do they go if even THEY don't trust the people whose job it is to give us the facts and nothing but the facts.

*Dunham "Aunt Flow" joke made by Courtney, who has Girl Cred.

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