" There is far greater trust in government and in any sort of "officials" in general in Sweden than here in the U.S. - I believe that stems, in a large part, from the corrupted media/politician relationship that I previously alluded to. Americans are rightfully skeptical - we have been lied to, repeatedly, over too many issues."
I have no idea whether people in Sweden trust their government more than here in the US. Do you have some type of survey data? Last time I extensively interacted with Swedes was in engineering grad school hanging with Leo and Charlotte and the Swedes drinkin' vodka... a lot of it. After all it was winter in New Hampshire.
"corrupted media/politician relationship"... not sure what you mean by that.
"I believe that I stated, very clearly, my understanding of how our media has been corrupted by only reporting "what sells". I also decried the fact that, because it "sells", that our media is vastly over-emphasizing every COVID related death."
I think our US media industry has evolved since I was a kid, powered in large part by advancing technology and capitalism. And I think that "yellow journalism" has been around a long time.
Some perhaps helpful perspective:
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/yellow-journalism
I was not around at that time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism
Perhaps the only "cure" is state journalism in the minds of some. I don't like that idea.