Marty Baron: Fair and honest reporting ‘will be validated over the long run’

As journalists, we tend to assume the public understands our jobs and how we do them — that we labor to hold officials and powerbrokers accountable, we pursue stories in the public interest, we operate independently of political parties or interest groups, we don’t pay for or fabricate information, we check facts and correct mistakes. The evidence is overwhelming, however, that our motivations and methods are deeply misunderstood. Half of Americans distrust the media, with even higher levels of contempt among Republicans, according the recently released Poynter Media Trust Survey.

Read more in the Poynter Institute.