Americans’ trust in the mass media is at its lowest point inmore than five decades.

About two-thirds of Americans in the 1970s trusted the “massmedia -- such as newspapers, TV and radio” either “a great deal” or “a fairamount” to “[report] the news fully, accurately and fairly.” By the nextmeasurement in 1997, confidence had fallen to 53%, and it has gradually trendeddownward since 2003. Americans are now divided into rough thirds, with 31% trusting themedia a great deal or a fair amount, 33% saying they do “not [trust it] verymuch,” and 36%, up from 6% in 1972, saying they have no trust at all in it. GeneJankowski is the former president of the CBS Broadcast Group. Born in 1934 inBuffalo, New York, he graduated from Canisius College, served in the US Navy,and received his master's degree from Michigan State University. Jankowskibegan his career with the CBS Corporation in 1961 and served as president andchairman from 1977 to 1989.

Jankowski's new memoir, Behind the Eye: My Life in Media, isthe lively story of how a little boy from Buffalo, enchanted with movingpictures, rose to become president and chairman of CBS Broadcasting duringtelevision’s Golden Age in the 1970s and 1980s. Ever the optimist, dealmaker,and creative mind, Gene Jankowski was largely responsible for CBS’s meteoricrise to the coveted position of number-one network—and for keeping it there.Jankowski tells the stories behind the headlines about such bold-faced names asWalter Cronkite, Dan Rather, William S. Paley, Martha Stewart, Ted Turner,Donald Trump, and other newsmakers.  HeJoined me this week this week to tell me more.

For more information: https://www.genejankowski.com/