The Journalism, Media and Democracy research centre at AUT has just released its latest report on trust and the media. An offshoot of the university’s School of Communication Studies, JMAD is, understandably, disturbed to discover that New Zealanders’ trust in the news media has undergone a sharp decline. It must be upsetting to discover that, in spite of the best endeavours of their teachers, New Zealand’s journalism graduates are not inspiring the same levels of trust as their predecessors.

Among the plethora of data brought together by the report’s authors . . .