'Doctor, heal thyself': WaPo's Chris Cillizza blames distrust in media on WHAT?

The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza has some bad news to report:

Trust in the media is at an all-time low. That's a terrible thing for all of us. http://t.co/wnRbJOhv0x pic.twitter.com/Zl7Sv7ha3Y

— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) September 28, 2015

Who’s “us,” Kemo Sabe?

"all of us" people? Or "all of us" media? https://t.co/0xLFdJShAX

— PoliMath (@politicalmath) September 28, 2015

.@TheFix what "us" are you referring to?https://t.co/F57npduCnl

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) September 28, 2015

We’ll concede that it sucks, Chris. But who’s fault is it?

Lol. You don't say? @TheFix

— Beef Supreme (@Supreme____Beef) September 28, 2015

@TheFix What on earth could have caused that?

— Joel Engel (@joelengel) September 28, 2015

Gee… I wonder who may have largely contributed to that perception in his own very unique way.
https://t.co/oui9tlz5IF

— Cody LaDiablita ☠️⚓️ (@cody_k) September 28, 2015

For anyone out there who may be inclined to suggest that the media themselves have something to do with the public losing trust in them, Cillizza would like to correct the record:

To which I say: Wrong.

I don’t say that to be a jerk. I understand that many people who feel passionately about the rightness of one party or the other (and plenty of people who don’t) are simply convinced that the media is pursuing some sort of narrative that somehow furthers our collective “goals.” (If you were in the media, you would know we aren’t even close to organized enough to orchestrate such a grand plan. But, I digress.) And, I will grant that, like in any industry, there are some bad apples and some high profile mistakes that people seize on as evidence that their pet theory of the media (too liberal/ too conservative) is right.

But, I believe really strongly that the decline in trust in the media is primarily attributable to partisans — whether in politics or in the media — who have a vested interest in casting the press as hopelessly biased. What better way for liberal or conservative talk radio to (a) lure listeners and (b) stoke outrage than to insist that the mainstream media is lying to you? What better way for politicians to raise money from partisans already skeptical about the media than to say the media isn’t telling the truth?