An ominous climate for freedom of the press

So says Nicholas D. Kristof writing for the op-ed page of The New York Times. A major reason, he says in this thoughtful piece, is that the "media are widely perceived as arrogant, out of touch and untrustworthy." He concludes:

"If one word can capture the public attitude toward American journalists, I'm afraid it's 'arrogant.' Not surprisingly, I think that charge is grossly unfair. But it's imperative that we respond to that charge - not by dismissing it, but by working far more diligently to reconnect with the public.

"Unless we can recover the public trust, our protests about reporters' going to jail will come across as self-serving whining. And we'll wake up one day to find ourselves on the wrong side of history."