I somewhat agree with your appraisal of the state of the US, based on what I hear & read. China has big problems internally too though - not least a massive looming demographic crisis. The absence of a free press, free speech and an independent judiciary are definite negatives. Corruption remains part of everyday life in the forms of bribery and nepotism - if you're seriously ill you'd better have connections to senior hospital staff or local government (or lots of money, but that kind of comes with the connections anyway).
Mass media in the West is largely in the hands of private interests with their own agendas, it's not in lockstep with whoever is in power. Arguably the media controls the politicians, not the other way around. It's a totally different problem, it's mainly polarised and divided our populations which is pretty much the opposite of what Chinese state controlled media does.