What do either of these incidents have to do with trust in the media? Both incidents were fabrications of the government. In both cases the media was a tool used by government to spread the lies.

> One week after that, hear people openly talking about how that fake thing is true, but Google/MSM don't want you to hear about it.

There is an implication by the OP that people in very conservative parts of the state don't believe Google / MSM and point to deep fakes instead. In the past, they would've been more receptive to the MSM who could've debunked this. I posted these two incidents to show that the MSM did, in fact, lie in the past and this may be shaping why people don't believe them now but instead go online looking for "the truth."

Bingo. And I'm all for skepticism, and I understand a healthy skepticism. BUT

What is a problem, though, is that their sources are always things like americafreedompatriot, thetruereporter or other similar blog bullshit that claim to have 'the truth' (my personal favorite is welovetrump that's definitely unbiased).

My experience is they tend to look for sources that feel good and agree with what they believe, then use that as truth. No critical thinking.