-
In 1960 Americans watched the first televised presidential debate (Kennedy v. Nixon), a sign that politics were entering a new media age. But by the early 1970s that faith in leaders was collapsing. Gallup polls show trust in the federal government plummeted from the mid-50% range to just 36% by late 1974 , and Pew notes that this decline “continued in the 1970s with the Watergate scandal” . News coverage of Watergate itself briefly boosted faith in journalism (sinking in 1974 but rising to 72% by the time All the President’s Men was released) – but that trust, too, has…