The problem with this statement is that your Chinese friend comes from a place where every information source allowed by the government can be safely assumed to be propaganda, by definition. That's how their system works. Not so in the west.
I object your reference to the collective west. As a Canadian, i believe my country has very little in common with the US. In fact, the US is pretty similar to China when it comes to propaganda.
Im Canadian too and I fear our country becomes more American every year.
This extreme naivete is exactly what the parent comment's story is addressing.
No, it's not. There is a big difference between Chinese-level control of information and what is seen in the west. Naivete would be believing that the west has none, or maybe that the West has so much that it is somehow already an Orwellian Big Brother state.