Wednesday is World Press Freedom Day. The Washington Post will be celebrating by hosting Antony Blinken (of all people) to discuss the importance of a free and independent press. In preparation for the event, the Associated Press put out a poll in coordination with the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The poll sought to measure the public’s trust in the news media and how good of a job they are doing in defending democracy. They also asked whether or not the mainstream media was contributing to the political polarization gripping the country. The results were… not good. At least not for the AP and the rest of the legacy media. Almost three-quarters of the public blame the news media for political polarization and most have very little faith in the press’ ability to “fairly and accurately” report the news. I know you’re all shocked. (/sarc)

When it comes to the news media and the impact it’s having on democracy and political polarization in the United States, Americans are likelier to say it’s doing more harm than good.

Nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults say the news media is increasing political polarization in this country, and just under half say they have little to no trust in the media’s ability to report the news fairly and accurately, according to a new survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.

The poll, released before World Press Freedom Day on Wednesday, shows Americans have significant concerns about misinformation.

The AP’s analysis of its own poll frets over the possibility that more people are likely to get their news from social media rather than believing what they see on television or in the newspapers. (Ya think?)

Trying to find some flowers in this garden of weeds, the AP notes that slightly more than half of respondents have at least “some” confidence in the news media’s ability to “report the news fully and fairly.” But just 16% said they were “very” confident. Almost half (45%) said they had “little to no” confidence in that claim.

And how about the media’s ability to promote and strengthen democracy? 20% said the MSM is doing that. Twice as many said that the press is actively harming democracy. The rest would not or could not say one way or the other.

The partisan breakdown is probably just about what you would have expected. Republicans are significantly more likely to express distrust in the media. They are also the most likely to opine that the news is “strongly influenced by the U.S. government and the political views of journalists.” That shouldn’t come as a surprise, since the vast majority of the mainstream press pushes Democratic and liberal propaganda.

One subject that the Associated Press completely ignored is topic selection bias. The mainstream press doesn’t have to deliver false or heavily spun reports to do damage. They can accomplish a lot more by simply ignoring stories. Take, for example, the difference between recent House revelations about the dodgy financial dealing of Biden Incorporated and the show trial(s) against former President Trump. The Media Research Center found that between March 16 and April 5, the major alphabet news outlets (ABC, NBC, CBS) spent 10 hours, 58 minutes, and 17 seconds covering Trump investigation stories. During that same period, they spent exactly zero seconds talking about the Biden family’s financial corruption reports. Not one mention was seen.

When the mainstream press does get around to mentioning a “controversial” story, favoritism is on full display. When it comes to coverage of the so-called “Tennessee Three,” the disruptive legislators received favorable coverage at a ratio of 107 to 24 over the Republican majority in the legislature. You can browse through MRC’s latest headlines and find dozens of other examples.

This is a real problem. We’ve known about the massive imbalance in media bias for a long time. But aside from this rare poll from the Associated Press, the subject is either never brought up in the MSM (aside from Fox News) or is dismissed as “misinformation.” And there are no obvious solutions being put forward. If I had to make one recommendation, I would suggest Spectrum News for those of you who have it available. They come the closest to presenting unbiased news and the commentary of both liberals and conservatives of any of the outlets out there.