The distrust of the media becomes total. That’s hardly news to anyone, except  to the clueless editors and publishers of the big newspapers and the big mules  of the television networks, who see their audiences shrinking and wonder  why.

A new survey by Gallup asked Americans how much trust and confidence they  have in the mass media — newspapers, television and radio — when it comes to  reporting the news fully, accurately and fairly: a great deal, a fair amount,  not very much, or none at all. The result shows that “trust” disappeared long  ago. Trust becomes disgust.

Gallup has been taking this measurement over the past decade or so, and the  erosion of trust has been consistent and steady since at least 1998. Twelve  years ago, 53 percent of Americans told Gallup that they had “a great deal” or  at least “a fair amount” of trust in the media. By this year, only 40 percent of  Americans put their trust in newspapers, television and radio to tell them  what’s going on in the world. A remarkable 60 percent said they had “not very  much” trust or “none at all.”

This should frighten editors and publishers, but it won’t. With few  exceptions, they’re locked in to their high-minded prejudices and the noble  conceit that the role of the media is not to report the news but to tell  readers, viewers and listeners what to think about the news. This trend is  vividly illustrated by the coverage of the presidential campaign this year. This  latest survey was taken in the second week of September, so it’s hot off the  press.

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