Specifically, Xinhua is learning the bad habits of the international press. That means that they are getting more professional and experienced, I suppose. Unfortunately that also includes a lot of crappy practices of other countries' media enterprises.

The bad habit in question is poor and/or misleading headline writing. The one I saw today was "UN: Possible US downturn may hurt China." The first line of the article continues that message:

China might see a "significant dent" in its economic growth rate, if the US economy slides into a recession, according to a United Nations report released on Wednesday.

True, but misleading. The central message is in stark contrast to all the other news stories that have circulated in the past week or so about the relationship between US and China growth. Most articles I've read have agreed that a US slowdown will not significantly hurt China's economy, and moreover, that China's growth will help to bolster the global economy.

So the Xinhua story looks like real news, huh? Well, not exactly. It turns out that the UN report, like many forecasts, contains several scenarios. The one that shows China's GDP growth slipping below 8 percent is the one where all the negative assumptions are factored in (i.e., the worst-case scenario).

I expect this kind of thing from Fox News, but expect better from Xinhua. Maybe "expect" is too strong a word to use. Perhaps "I hope one day to see better from Xinhua" is better.