As long as we seem to be on the subject of trust and the media today, National Journal's forthcoming issue questions 238 members of Congress and other Washington "insiders" about politics and media, including this telling question:

Q. Has your experience in government and politics given you more respect for the news media, or less?

Republicans
More respect 21%
Less respect 63%
Other 15%

Democrats
More respect 22%
Less respect 61%
Other 16%

Some highlights:

"More respect for the individual reporters and editors who cover politics and strive to be eminently fair and professional. However ... I do think there is an institutional bias in the mainstream media that is more liberal than the nation."

"I have more respect for the news media, because they act much like anybody else would act if in the same profession—the straighter you are with the media, the straighter the media will be with you."

"My experience has given me enormous respect for some members of the press, and confirmed my worst suspicions about others."

"The mainstream news media has a bad case of a 'he said, she said' virus that forgoes any serious effort to expose the accuracy of competing claims. The right-wing cable and radio media continue to degenerate into increasingly shrill propaganda broadcasters."

And perhaps the best one of all: "The reporters get dumber and lazier every year."