On election day last month, I spent some time interviewing poll workers in New York City.

When I introduced myself to one, I told her that I write a column for the Guardian and her immediate reply was “thank you”. I was a little taken aback: people don’t normally react that way to journalists. Trust in the news media is low, and Donald Trump’s unfair cries of “fake news” and his efforts to depict journalists as “enemies of the people” have taken their toll.

So too have the discouraging moves made this year by storied news organizations such as the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and CBS News, where commercial interests or pro-Trump politics are affecting the journalism. Too many powerful media people are trying to cozy up to the president, rather than support journalism that holds him accountable for his words and actions.

Given that atmosphere, the poll worker’s words of thanks for the Guardian were especially nice to hear. But, in a........

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