Americans trust their employers far more than the business and NGO community more generally, while distrusting both government and media, according to a new study. Institutional confidence among Americans is highly localized, according to an annual survey (pdf) released Jan. 13 by public relations firm Edelman, which shows that 72 percent of U.S. respondents believe their employer is a mainstay of trust. “Trust has gone local,” Edelman CEO Richard Edelman said in a statement. “The COVID-19 pandemic, with more than 1.9 million lives lost and joblessness equivalent to the Great Depression, has accelerated the erosion of trust,” he added. Americans expressed neutral levels of trust in business (54 percent) and NGOs (50 percent), while distrusting the media (45 percent) and government (42 percent), the survey showed. A score between 50-59 percent reflects a neutral level of trust, while a score below 49 percent shows distrust, according to survey methodology. Scores above 60 …