Views of the news bemuse

A couple of news stories caught my attention:

• China's Vice President Xi Jinping is visiting the United States. News broadcasts seem bemused by the contrast between American concern for Chinese people and American differences with the policies of the Chinese government. There is a very long history of American concern for the Chinese people, going back long before World War II, and in that war China and the United States were allied against common enemies. While America has not completely gotten rid of prejudice it is much reduced in recent decades; the successes of Chinese Americans have convinced most of us of the value that they add to our society. Our current media phenom is basketball star Jeremy Lin. And yes, we do have differences with the policies of the Government of China, as we as individuals do with our own government and as our government does with the governments of such close allies as the United Kingdom and Israel.
• I just saw a reporter for BBC News cut off a spokesperson for Save the Children who was explaining the very high child malnutrition and child mortality caused in recent year by the high price of food and the poverty of their parents, as shown in the new report A Life Free from Hunger: Tackling child malnutrition. Apparently the reporter thought that there were more important stories than millions of starving children. Really?