FRAZIER MOORE | Opinion Trust the media? Maybe you can, but TV reminds us that it's not easy

I couldn't help noticing how rock musician Michael Stipe has lately sported a T-shirt that declares, TRUST THE MEDIA.
My first reaction: What does he mean by that?
Then: Oh, I get it! He's probably being ironic.
But then I asked myself: Well, why not? Isn't trust a serviceable way to co-exist with something to which we entrust so much of our lives?
It's also a commendably forgiving attitude for us to adopt, since the news media regularly betray our trust.
A parade of newspaper and magazine journalists exposed for deceptive reporting practices (just this month, one at USA Today) has done nothing to build public confidence.
And what about television? Day in and day out, it lets us down.
CBS' situation
Recently CBS has been on a roll. How dismaying to hear CBS President Leslie Moonves voice pieties like "there's a public trust to being a television network" a few weeks ago to justify his decision to deep-six a scheduled biopic of President Reagan that, sight unseen, had brought political pressure on the network from conservatives and other Reagan supporters.
Right after "The Reagans" flap, CBS was in the soup again thanks to its "60 Minutes" interview with Michael Jackson, broadcast Dec. 28.
"60 Minutes," for decades perhaps TV's most trusted news program, has flatly denied charges that it paid for the interview -- a practice deemed taboo by most news organizations, certainly CBS News.
Even so, no one at the network has been able to explain away the connection between Jackson's "60 Minutes" appearance and a Jackson musical tribute from CBS' entertainment division. Yanked from the schedule in November as Jackson faced child molestation charges, that special was aired Jan. 2 -- and Jackson was paid for it -- contingent on his granting "60 Minutes" an interview.
Maybe at CBS this qualified as ethical, not to mention smart. (Who knew the musical special would be a ratings disappointment, despite "60 Minutes" as its warm-up act five days earlier?) Viewers, including those who buy the network's "public trust" manifesto, can draw their own conclusions.
'Reality' shows
Then they can tune to a so-called "reality" show, where, mocking the audience's trust (if any), truth and fiction are remarkably inseparable.
Take the real-life yet made-for-TV nuptials of Trista and Ryan from ABC's "The Bachelorette." That marriage may be genuine, but it still doesn't wash.
And what of a show like NBC's "The Apprentice"? Just as with its male candidates, each of its women is presented as a would-be tycoon competing for a high-level job with Donald Trump -- never mind the show looks more like a booty call for hot gals seeking television stardom.
"First, reality TV imitates reality, then reality starts imitating reality TV," writes Victor Pelevin, a novelist who has termed the phenomenon Pop-Reality.
"There are two instances when an event occurs in Pop-Reality," he adds -- "when someone pays for it and when it helps to pay for something else."
More and more, Pop-Reality seems to be a driving force in the culture, including television, where trust is seldom tapped as a paying proposition.
The exception
One clever exception is Fox News Channel, which leverages the public's distrust of the press as a marketing tool. A similar technique is embraced by politicians who campaign against Washington: Tear down the institution you're part of while you distance yourself from it as the glorious alternative. (Not "I'm better than the rest," but instead, "They're all bad, and only I am good.")
While marshaling public scorn for the press as biased, elitist, liberal, whatever, Fox News Channel exempts itself with its "fair and balanced" sales pitch. This way, it positions itself as TV's anti-media news media outlet.
Of course, a fairer-than-thou attitude too brashly expressed can rebound as its own fair warning. Remember Nelson Algren's warnings: Never eat at a restaurant named Mom's, never play poker with a man named Doc, and -- hey, what was that third rule? Beware of those who boast too much about their own trustworthiness?
For the foreseeable future, the Fox News strategy should continue to pay off, deftly capitalizing on viewers' distrust. But, happy to demonize the competition, Fox News Channel fouls the nest it's sharing with all its fellow press. Too bad for the public. That's our nest, too.
XMoore is an Associated Press television writer. The column by Vindicator Entertainment Editor Debora Shaulis will return next week.