THIS IS WHY AMERICANS DON’T TRUST THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA: Pick up today’s Washington Post and scan the lead story headlined “GOP Secures Senate Votes To Pass Tax Bill.” So far, so good. Then check out the first sub-head: “MOST BENEFITS FOR BUSINESSES, WEALTHY.” That’s the controlling assumption of the analysis – not “objective reporting” – that follows.

The story’s lede claims the bill “bestows massive benefits on corporate America and the wealthy while delivering mixed blessings to everybody else.” Tax cuts mostly benefit the rich is the standard Democrat talking point and Post reporters Erica Werner and Damian Paletta dutifully frame their reporting in such terms.

But do the wealthy get bigger tax cuts than the middle class or the poor? Depends on how the effects of the cuts are measured. The Post reporters cite a Joint Committee on Taxation analysis that, among much else, concludes “only 44 percent of taxpayers would see see their burden reduced by more than $500 in 2019 but that high earners would fare much better than the poor under the bill.”

What the Post reporters don’t tell readers is that other measures of the Senate tax cut bill’s effects contradict their chosen – Democratic – narrative. To cite just one example, the Cato Institute’s Chris Edwards looked at the aggregate percentage cuts by income range. Taxpayers earning $40,000 to $50,000 annually would see a 51 percent reduction. Similarly, those earning $75,000 to $100,000 would see a 17 percent aggregate reduction.

And the wealthy? Edwards calculated a 5.8 percent cut for those earning $1 million or more annually.

There other ways to slice and dice the effects of the Senate bill, but don’t look to the Post story for such useful information. And then journalists wonder why most Americans don’t believe them?

Their disbelief is deep indeed, as seen in the recent HarvardHarris Poll, as reported by The Hill, which said “65 percent of voters believe there is a lot of fake news in the mainstream media. That number includes 80 percent of Republicans, 60 percent of independents and 53 percent of Democrats.”

BTW, the online version of the Post story is no better even though there is infinitely more space to provide balance.