Something just doesn't seem right about that - its not as if Google news is specifically an index of American news media.

Is the entire global media system US centric?

Doing a Google search isn't an accurate way of determining the level of coverage. First, you are Googling using roman characters, not simplified Chinese, so almost no local stories would find their way into the results even if Google is indexing them.

Also, there are not as many media outlets in China, so even if the coverage reaches as many people, there may be fewer stories. If a story hits just CCTV and Xinhua, it's the equivalent of hitting CNN, FoxNews, MSNBC, The New York Times, Washington Post, and all the Gannet papers. Outside China, it's likely to only be covered by BBC, CNN, AP, Reuters, etc.. Whereas, any domestic US stories are going to be parroted by every local paper, even though they are just republishing the same AP or Reuters copy..

RE: China hit by heavy flooding - Asia-Pacific - Al Jazeera English