It's no wonder why people don't always trust the press, given the sheer number of errors in the news media's reporting.  (And I say this as a journalist myself, and someone who works in the national news media.)  Almost everyone has a story about finding errors -- minor or otherwise -- in a report, especially if the topic of the report is one with which you have some familiarity already.  This leads to the slippery-slope problem of "if they couldn't get THAT little detail right, why should I trust them on x?"

That said, I think that the news media are by and large professional and dedicated to getting things right.  Most journalists care about what they're doing, and don't want to make mistakes, and will take the time to correct the inevitable errors if and when they find out about them.  (After all, I'm sure you make mistakes on a regular basis at your job -- everyone does -- but perhaps yours aren't so visible.)

That said, let's pay attention here, people.  I was watching the reports on the Air France crash at Toronto yesterday with interest.  A particular network news anchor kept repeating at first that the plane was a 737, with 250 people aboard.  No wonder it crashed, I thought to myself:  after all, most 737s can only hold 150 people or so (depending on the model number and the configurarion)...the poor thing was overloaded!  This was the kind of fact I could check (and did) in about twenty seconds.  And why on earth would you report that it was a 737 unless that fact was confirmed?  If you don't know, it's far better to say that you don't know and are working on finding out more information than it is to go to print/air with information that's incorrect. 

Or this article from the CP, which mentions "the Airbus A-340's twin tail-mounted engines."  Here's a photo of the exact plane (F-GLZQ) that crashed.  Do you see those twin tail-mounted engines referenced in the article?  No, you don't...because the A340 has four wing-mounted engines.  See what I mean?  It's simple stuff.  And nothing else in the article is wrong, as far as I can spot.  But flubbing that one little detail waters down the credibility of the entire piece, the reporter, and the news outlet that publishes this information.