Maybe they've earned it, but ...

... trust in the media is lower than the military?

Seriously?

From a recent article:

There isn’t a whole lot of trust to in the U.S. news media.

Just 23 percent of Americans say they trust TV news a great deal or quite a lot, according to a recent Gallup poll, which is below other institutions such as banks (26 percent), public schools (32 percent) and the presidency (36 percent).

Newspapers were no better off; 23 percent also said they trust them either a great deal or quite a lot.

According to the poll, the nation’s most trustworthy institution is the military with 76 percent trusting it a great deal or quite a lot, followed by small businesses (65 percent).

That said, Americans’ distrust of the news media is nothing new. Confidence in TV news peaked at 46 percent in 1993, the first year Gallup asked the question. And the only time trust in newspapers was above the 50 percent threshold was in 1979, when 51 percent of those surveyed said they trusted papers.

In fact, trust in TV news is actually up this year from 21 percent in 2012. Trust in newspapers dipped, however, from 25 percent a year ago.

First, I get that the people don't trust the media, what with allegations of bias from both sides of the political aisle and lead stories like this everyday:

Florida man allegedly kills wife, posts photos to Facebook of dead body New York Daily News 25 minutes ago Written by Michael Walsh Relationship Status: Dead. A Florida man apparently fatally shot his wife in their home - and then posted on his Facebook page Thursday a grisly photo of her contorted body, along with a bizarre confession

What I don't get is the high trust in the military. Even with the confirmed accounts of torture, killing innocent civilians, burning Korans, urinating on dead bodies, widespread sexual assault, rampant racism, etc.?

But then, stories of such occurrences come from ... yep ... the media!