Recent polling shows Americans’ mistrust of establishment media at an all-time high. The only surprise is that it isn’t higher. America’s establishment media bias is so consistent that they clearly no longer just cover the news from one side, but for one side. Gallup recently released a poll (10/14) showing that “trust in the fourth estate — the mass media — is at a new low.” Less than one-third of Americans (31%) expressed “‘a great deal’ or ‘fair amount’ of confidence in the media to report the news ‘fully, accurately and fairly.’” In contrast, almost seven in ten Americans have “no trust at all in the media” (36%) or “not very much” confidence (33%) in the media. Gallup’s question was not a new one. Back in the 1970s, America’s confidence in the media was 68%-72%.  Even in the late 1990s and early 2000s, trust ranged between 51-55%. Today, Gallup finds “the news media is the least trusted group among 10 U.S. civic political institutions.” Far from being merely a perception problem, the establishment media’s faults run far deeper. The Media Research Center has long cited numerous polls finding “journalists are much more liberal than rest of America” and that this liberal advantage is growing. These journalists report the way they lean with “most of the journalistic elite offering reflexively liberal answers to practically every question a pollster can imagine.” A 2022 Syracuse University survey showed that only 3.4 percent of American journalists say they are Republicans. And this summer, the Media Research Center found media coverage of Kamala Harris had been 84 percent positive, while Trump’s had been 89 percent negative. Certainly, Americans don’t need polls to tell them about establishment media bias; case after case exists.  There was the Russian dossier that was breathlessly reported on and used for extensive investigations by Congress. It turned out the FBI should never have undertaken a Trump-Russia probe.  Then there was case of Hunter Biden’s laptop that was treated as a hoax; only to turn out to be true and a key piece of evidence in his trial — in which he was convicted on all three charges. There was the ignoring of the border crisis. It stopped only when the illegal immigrant crisis came to the blue cities from which the establishment media reported.  Even now, the establishment media refuse to acknowledge any connection between illegal immigrants and the crimes they commit — despite data showing hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants who have committed crimes being released into the U.S. The establishment media also ignore crime in general, insisting crime in America has gone down. Then the FBI released updated crime statistics running counter to what the establishment media want the facts to be — and despite Trump being fact-checked during his debate with Harris. Then there are recent cases where the establishment media has taken an active role in shaping the “news” it covers. 60 Minutes’ recent editing to toss out yet another Harris word salad is an example. On a whole other scale is the establishment media’s complicity in concealing Biden’s decline for three and a half years: this despite receiving preferential access to this administration throughout the period. Only once the June debate made concealment no longer possible did the media come forward. Then, led by the New York Times, it did so in conjunction with the Democrat elite to force Biden from the ticket. Ever since, it has been no less active in inflating the image of Kamala Harris as the Democrats’ unelected nominee. Look no further than the hagiographic Time front cover picture of Harris. For evidence how effective and relentless the establishment media has been in promoting Harris’ candidacy, simply compare her high “unfavorables” as vice president to their rebound in just a few months’ time: According to Real Clear Politics’ national average, on July 20 (the day before Biden withdrew), Harris was -16.8 percentage points; on October 19, she was -0.3 percentage points. And all this has occurred as Harris has utterly avoided serious interaction with the press — something it entirely ignores. The list of establishment media bias is endless and grows daily. To understand its depth, simply ask when the tide has run the other way. Earlier this year, NPR senior editor Uri Berliner created a sensation when he wrote: “It’s true NPR has always had a liberal bent, but during most of my tenure here, an open-minded, curious culture prevailed… In recent years, however, that has changed. Today, those who listen to NPR or read its coverage online find something different: the distilled worldview of a very small segment of the U.S. population.” Berliner’s only error was not making a blanket confession for the entire establishment media. With the vanity of Narcissus, America’s establishment media has become mesmerized with itself, believing its viewpoint is the only one worthy to be seen. The media class reports solely for itself and to itself.  If you doubt, look back to Gallup’s poll which found that 54 percent of Democrats had confidence in the establishment media, while only 27 percent of Independents and 12 percent of Republicans did. America’s establishment media loves to hide behind the First Amendment. However, there can be no freedom of the press if there is no freedom in the press.  No greater blow is being struck for such a freedom than Americans’ tuning out of the establishment media. J.T. Young is the author of the new book, Unprecedented Assault: How Big Government Unleashed America’s Socialist Left, from RealClear Publishing and has over three decades’ experience working in Congress, Department of Treasury, and OMB, and representing a Fortune 20 company. The post Americans’ Justified Media Mistrust appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.