Why has there been a decline ina atrust in government since the 1960s?

Dealing with wars at the time.|||This decline was primarily due to the media coverage of Vietnam, but additionally a change in the media's perspective towards the government also contributed.





For the coverage of Vietnam, for the first time people could see the effects of war on the individual. It was not that these effects had been suppressed or hidden by the government in the past; rather they had been distant to the public, something easily overlooked and ignored. The media was able to bring the Vietnam War into people's homes. Thus, for the first time the government was trying to fight a war while keeping in mind that any decision would be criticized by the public. Indeed, the televised nature of Vietnam is one of the factors that led to the American withdrawal.





There was the Watergate scandal, of course, but the media also handled this quite differently than previous presidential problems. For example, the media helped FDR minimize the exposure his disability had. Despite the fact he couldn't drive a car (due to lack of the use of his legs), there is media footage of him "driving" (or really, being towed but the tow truck was kept out of the frame). In short, the media used to help preserve the image of the President as an icon.





With Watergate, the media turned to focus on sensationalism. From that point on, the media focused not just on scandals but any negative point that could be used to sell papers and gain viewers. We can see this even in current events; When Dick Cheney accidentally shot a friend while hunting, the media was outraged that they hadn't been informed of it ASAP (even though the person shot held no hard feelings towards the VP).





Note, it is a mistake to think that the government is less trustworthy today or more trustworthy in the past; the change isn鈥檛 in the government but in how it and its actions are portrayed to the public.|||It started with Vietnam. The government/military so manipulated information that people started routinely to disbelieve what they were being told. The Watergate scandal under Nixon made the situation worse.|||Because the government has done nothing to make us trust them in a very long time. You have to earn that. They lost our trust in Vietnam and Watergate, and so far don't seem too interested in getting it back.