Lack of Trust

I was sitting and reading over a graphic chart today....a statistical collection over 'trust in the media' between people who are Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.

If you look at the chart....there's some point around 1998 where the bulk (at least 50-percent) of the nation was trusting the media.

Along about 2004, that shift occurs. Republicans go south (30-percent still trust the media).  Independents go south (45-percent still trust the media). 

By 2012, it's gotten pretty bad.  Less than a third of Republicans still trust the media.  Even from the Democrats, they've dropped down to around 58-percent. 

By 2016, the election year....Republicans reached the depth of 14-percent, and barely one-third of Independents can still find trust.  Even half of the Democrats lack trust.

For two-hundred years.....some form of the media....newspapers, radio, television, magazines, or the internet....was able to convey a brand-name message and convince people that they could trust their message.  That doesn't exist anymore.

I went looking for comparable numbers in Europe.  The latest trend? Radio is about the only media left where 59-percent of the public has a trust in the message.  The written-media?  They dip down to 46-percent. 

What happens in 2020 and the next election?  If this trends holds on, then the brand-name news and slant that would usually affect an election....will be in serious trouble.  Added to this 'misery'....the fake shock that the news media has to project when their message isn't bought by the public. 

All of this would bring me to question how things will work in 2024 (likely the end of the Trump era), and how both political parties can survive in this new era.