In 50 years, Americans who distrust mainstream media went from the smallest segment of society to the largest.

Gallup has been asking the same questions about Americans’ trust in institutions for 50 years. Gallup’s most recent poll shows that Americans who have no trust in media (a record 39%) remain the largest segment of American society.

Trust in mainstream news was at an all-time high around 1975. But it was about that time that U.S. Senate hearings exposed the fact that most major news outlets were secretly paid by the CIA or other federal agencies. Since then–as the “news” media continued to push pro-government, anti-freedom messaging constantly–trust has plummeted.