[xster]

I don't think so. American media generally had the same tone for the past 20 years as far as I can remember where news segments longer than 60 seconds about China had to finish with a Tiananmen reference or something similar (imagine Chinese TV finishing every US report with "the US is currently bombing 7 countries").

I think the only difference is that more and more of the American public are now on the receiving end of the media rhetorics so people have more of an eye for these kinds of things now.