A Pew Research Center study indicates that Americans’ trust of the media is the lowest it’s been since at least 1985, the first year that the study took readings. What role has the rise of the Web played in this trend? Instead of a handful of trusted national dailies and a few TV stations, news consumers now have a wider variety of sources — and many more outlets for media criticism.

The graph that accompanies a Pew Research Center survey on media credibility released Monday shows blue lines heading south: Now just 29 percent of Americans surveyed believe the media gets the facts right, and a scant 18 percent think news organizations are truly objective.

While “Public Evaluations of the News Media, 1985-2009″ does not focus on technology’s impact on media, those downward trends may intersect with rising chart lines for the use of Web sites and blogs as news sources. Along with that comes better access to information for pointing out journalists’ errors and overall critiques of the media.

Another obstacle for mainstream media: After years of conservatives and Republicans leading the press attack pack in terms of accuracy and bias, now the other side of the political aisle is joining that chorus. Pew results show 59 percent of Democrats now think that press reports are often inaccurate, and 67 percent say the media chooses sides on issues more often than not.