The reason why this kind of article gets mocked on Hexbear is because very commonly, when China makes some kind of positive improvement, Western news articles have to attach a "BUT..." afterwards, even if the concern is extremely minor.

The "BUT AT WHAT COST" of the thread name isn't just a meme, it's a common occurrence with articles about China. Here are some examples: https://twitter.com/slipknothooh/status/1433496026795630598?lang=en

An achievement from China can never just stand on its own, it always has to be criticized, whereas achievements from Western nations rarely get this treatment.

[–] protist@mander.xyz 3 points 2 years ago (3 children)

whereas achievements from Western nations rarely get this treatment

I have to disagree, commercial news loves controversy and the negative, they always pull this shit, regardless of country. Even worse, what we have here is a clickbait headline that isn't even descriptive of the article

[–] GarbageShoot@hexbear.net 27 points 2 years ago

Come on, you must see a ton of popsci articles like "This invention might end aging forever!" and "School teacher invents new green fuel" and "Why is California leading the world in [whatever]?"

Their point is that Approved countries get fluff pieces like that while China gets, from comparable material, a source of criticism that is deemed important enough to put in the headline.

[–] silent_water@hexbear.net 10 points 2 years ago

Even worse, what we have here is a clickbait headline that isn't even descriptive of the article

the point is that positive news out of China gets given a clickbait title that plays up the controversy while positive news from the west gets given a clickbait title that oversells the promise of the technology. why is this an observable trend in media, I wonder...