WHY THE PUBLIC DISTRUSTS THE MEDIA: Jeffrey M. Landaw, an editor at the "Baltimore Sun" and a self-described "lifelong Democrat," sums it up nicely:

As the mainstream media strain to get the "right" mix of color, religion and gender into their newsrooms, they've stopped representing their readers' political and cultural views. Thomas Edsall of The Washington Post makes this point in the July/August Public Perspective magazine, put out by the University of Connecticut's Roper Center for Public Opinion Research... "The media," Mr. Edsall wrote, "do not have good antennae to detect conservative forces at work in the electorate." Mr. Edsall points out that "the press ... has been blindsided by some of the most significant political developments because so few members of the media share the views of the voters who have been mobilized by these movements.