Earl: Just a footnote to previous response. In today's TIMES (of London), if one puts in "Japan" in the search box, amidst fairly objective stories about Japan's economy and the Olympus scandal, one finds one story about a chewing gum manufacturer who is switching flavors and is therefore representative of innovative entrepreneurship in otherwise awful economy and politics Japan (if this isn't condescending I don't know what is especially given the state of the UK economy today!) and also an article about the massive pile-up of Ferraris and other luxury cars in southwestern Japan in which this final para appears:
"In recessionary Japan, the reckless use of the combustion engine is a hobby for the old and rich "ojisan" often trying to recapture a youth in which he was too overworked and cash-strapped to drive a supercar." Stereotyped? Story about an unrepresentative minority? Condescending? You bet! I bet Western newspapers in most countries not only played and played up this story but also did it in a similar way. As I said, journalism in many countries tends to rely on formulas based on stereotypes and the further away the country from the journalists' country, the more formulaic and emphasis on the audience's stereotypes.
US journalism definitely is, and may be slightly more so than others, but not alone.

Best regards,
Ellis