Alright, well, most news is going to be negative, that's just how news works. You're not going to see the headline "Things at the NHS are going pretty well", because that's not news. Just like you won't see "Medicare has been pretty solid this month" or something. You will see that kind of analysis in editorials and magazines though.
So I can understand if you don't see much positive commentary about other countries, that's just the nature of the news. But if you're not seeing anything negative about America, then I can't believe you're actually reading any news.
I think the expected mindset for the reader is that things in other developed countries are usually going pretty well, and no news is good news. The media will report on ongoing stories, like Brazil's corruption scandal, the European migrant crisis, Israel/Palestine, etc., and on new newsworthy events, which unfortunately are usually negative. Something like "France passes great budget" is just not interesting enough for a general audience newspaper.
> I think the expected mindset for the reader is that things in other developed countries are usually going pretty well
You're expecting all too much of readers.
Of the hundreds of people I've hung out with in the last 6 months (in 4 different states) I would say less than 1% of them have any idea about the outside world.
They think healthcare in Canada is crap (which is very far from the truth)
They have no idea the murder rate in the US is so high compared to other developed countries.
They have no idea tertiary education is paid for with taxes in other countries, so students don't pay out of pocket.
etc.
In my experience, the majority of Americans don't know much about how the outside developed world functions, so they can't make meaningful comparisons for the purpose of improving things.
They can, however, compare America to Russia/China/NK all day long, and say "We're doing GREAT!"
