Welcome again to Journalism 101 - The Skeptical Edition, the column where I, the professional newsperson, tell you, the average reader, what's going on, just as soon as I can make it up.

Because, evidently, Americans think the media get everything wrong, including what I just wrote there. And there. And there, too.

The Associated Press reports that "nearly two-thirds of Americans think the news stories they read, hear and watch are frequently inaccurate, according to a poll...by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. That marks the highest level of skepticism recorded since 1985...."

In other words, the reading public hates us, mistrusts us and holds us in the kind of esteem usually reserved for televangelists and that guy on late night basic cable who sells the Shamwow.

Our considered and professional response to this is, "Oh, boo hoo." News reporters have never been held in high regard no matter what medium they work in and we'd start to worry if they were.

Journalists occupy a strange netherworld in American life. While we often refer to our calling as a "profession," it doesn't meet any of the requirements we usually associate with that word. You don't need to have gone to a journalism school to get a job in journalism. There's no qualifying exam, as with a lawyer or doctor or CPA or a master plumber. (It might make editors' lives easier if more reporters could be tested on whether they know the difference between "its" and "it's," but that's another issue.)

All you really needed to be a professional journalist was to be able to convince an editor or news director to hire you and give you a press card. Now even that rather lowly bar is irrelevant. Anyone with (a) a computer, (b) opposable thumbs and (c) a couple of working neurons can start his or her own blog. (And in the case of talk radio, we're not sure even (b) or (c) are requirements.)

In fact, the Pew survey makes no distinction between the new and old media or among U.S. News, The National Enquirer or Perez Hilton. (You'll just have to make up your own mind about who has the most current information about who Miley Cyrus is dating.)

It's no wonder news consumers are confused and skeptical. But the oddest thing about the survey is that when asked how they would feel about a news outlet closing, 82 percent of respondents said it would be an important loss if there were no local TV news and 74 percent said it would be a major blow to lose their local newspaper.

We knew you really loved us all along.