Those funny guys at JibJab have produced another riot, this time it’s a sendup of the TV news business.

After you stop grinning, though, consider their point and what it means for nature protection and pollution control: the news media has become a sensationalistic industry that has lost a great deal of public trust and esteem over the past decade. Your ability to accomplish anything positive by working with journalists is slowly but steadily eroding.

Source: Pew Trends 2005

In fact, most of you reading this blog have more credibility when you speak and write directly to the public than when your words are relayed via the press. The chart below is from California, but the basic pattern is well established in other research.

Source: PPIC 2005 Survey of Californians on the Environment