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Americans’ trust in the news media has been at an all-time low.

So it didn’t help last week when a San Luis Obispo County jury delivered a rare libel verdict against two reporters accused of smearing a local businessman’s reputation.

Karen Velie and Dan Blackburn, writers and co-founders at the online publication Cal Coast News, were told to pay $1.1 million in damages.

In a nutshell: A 2012 article by Cal Coast relied on unnamed sources to accuse a contractor of mishandling hazardous waste. It also said the owner, Charles Tenborg, was once fired from a county job.