NEW YORK -- Cat Murphy, a college student, has wanted to be a journalist since she was 11. Many of her friends don't understand why.

When they engage with the news -- if they do -- they hear a cacophony of voices. They don't know who to believe. Reporters are biased. They make mistakes. Besides, why would you hitch your future to a dying industry?

"There is a lot of commentary -- 'Oh, good for you. Look what you're walking into. You're going to be screaming into the void. You're going to be useless,'" said Murphy, a 21-year-old graduate student at the University of Maryland's journalism school.

She is undeterred. And it's also why she's not surprised by the findings of a study this fall that documented negative attitudes toward the news media among 13- to 18-year-old Americans.

The pre

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