I read an AP article this morning in which the article stated the obvious, that is, the fact that the public has a very negative opinion of the media. The article went on to blame Trump for it. It referenced a 24 year news reporter in California who said she was leaving the business due to the harsh reception she and others in the media receive from the public while reporting local news, etc.
Is it Trump's fault? Would the public have a positive opinion of the media if Trump hadn't kept referring to the media as "fake news"?
Think of a pathological manipulative liar in high school who is very popular. Everyone may have suspected that at times, the person lied, but assumed, for the most part that the person was telling the truth. Then, a new kid came to school that year and many kids accepted the new kid right away. The new kid became very popular, but the pathological manipulative liar hated that new kid with a passion. The pathological manipulative liar disparaged the new kid in front of others hoping to turn public opinion from the new kid back to him/her. It didn't work. The pathological manipulative liar became increasingly unhinged and sloppy in his/her lying. The lying, for the first time, became very obvious to all in both its frequency and its severity so that the other students each decided on their own, that the person was, in fact, a pathological manipulative liar and at that point rejected him/her. This rejection only emboldened the pathological manipulative liar to increase his/her negative attacks against the new kid, which the lies in turn only became more obvious.
The new kid "fought back" by publicly calling the pathological manipulative liar a liar. Once the new kid publicly declared that the pathological ,manipulative liar was a manipulative liar, the other kids became vocal about their feelings toward the pathological manipulative liar as well.
The pathological manipulative liar then blamed the new kid for turning the other kids against him/her. It was the new kid's fault since, before the new kid was in school, the pathological manipulative liar was popular and generally accepted positively by the other kids. It was not, in fact, the new kid's fault. The pathological manipulative liar was a pathological manipulative liar who lied and tried to manipulate more often and more obviously. The negative opinion other kids had of the pathological manipulative liar was the result of his/her own behavior.
That's how I see it.