It's no secret. During the past 40 years, the trust that was once invested in the media has slowly declined. In a poll conducted by the Gallup Organization in November 2000, journalists and reporters were given an average to low rating for honesty and ethical standards. Professions ranked lower than newspaper reporters in this poll were insurance salesmen, advertising practitioners and car salesmen.

Those who think that the media have become bias and partisan also believe that the lack of journalistic objectivity caused the decrease in the media's audience. However, a study conducted by the Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Medill News Service Washington Bureau suggests that it was the diminishing audience that caused a change in the style of journalistic writing.

According to David Mindich in his book 'Just the Facts: How 'Objectivity' Came to Define American Journalism,' "objectivity" has been an issue since 1690. Although it may not have applied to journalism before the 20th century, "objectivity" was alive and well when Benjamin Harris declared in Publick Occurrences, North Am

erica's first newspaper, his intention to provide "a Faithful Relation" of "considerable things as have arrived unto our Notice."

"Television made people lazy," said Jarred Weaver, a reporter for the Chillicothe Gazette. "Young people would rather sit on the couch and have the news spoon-fed to them than read the newspaper. Print media is actively competing for its audience."

Even as households increased from 63 million in 1970 to 97 million in 1994, newspaper circulation fell from 62 million to 60 million, according to the Newspaper Association of America. Network newscasts viewership peaked at 41 percent of households in 1980-81 and fell to 28 percent in 1994-95.

Some common words found in the essay are:
America November, America Network, Organization November, Washington Bureau, Code Ethics, Chillicothe Gazette, , Notice American, American Journalism', Faithful Relation, newspaper circulation, objective stories, viewers listeners, readers viewers listeners, straight objective stories, readers viewers, straight objective, medill service washington, newspaper readership, november 2000, association america, broadcast media, newspaper association america, print media, service washington bureau,
Approximate Word count = 780
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)