It pains me to say the trade has not been in such a grievous state since Watergate… let me state without equivocation that, in the 40-plus years I have been familiar with American political journalism, it has never been as poor as it is today. This grieves me because it has been my trade since Watergate. Once I hung on every written and spoken word – but now, with very few exceptions, there is nobody to read or hear who excites much thought or genuinely informs.
Jurek Martin, The rising poverty of American political journalism, The Financial Times, 7 January 2014
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/9a368c4e-77c5-11e3-afc5-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2pRcLIt13
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Rather than being better informed because of the proliferation of easily available information, studies show news consumers are less informed on key issues of public policy. And the problem has only become more acute with the explosion of social media and mobile technology
Center for Effective Public Management, Brookings Institution, June 2014
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Yes, the unfortunate reality is that with the Internet, voters seem to be less informed.
James Klurfeld, Visiting Professor of Journalism at Stony Brook University, 18 May 2015
The above brings home just how bad domestic American journalism really was Before Fake News – and long before the mass media began complaining about Donald J. Trump’s tweets.
And now?
The [U.S.] media has (sic) deteriorated – even the mainstream media talks (sic) to people as if they’re idiots.
Michael Goldfarb, US journalist, Politico Europe, Dateline London, BBC, 7 August 2016
(Not to be confused with Michael Goldfarb, the conservative writer who was Deputy Communications Director for the McCain presidential campaign)
[Updated in August 2016]