Yes, the general goal seems to be to make the rest of the world look like a chaotic hellhole, and to make China look too complicated for the average Zhou to really want to worry about.

Also, good news isn't news and all that.

No...CCTV news I watch when I am drunk...I laugh my ass off!!
I am VERY scared of CNN.
6 Months in Chinese hotels with only CNN in English (OK CCTV too).
When I got home I told my cable provider to kill it, because if I watch it again, I will freakin lose it!!

I watch it because it's the only English channel I have. Honestly, I don't like watching the news for that reason, too depressing. The obvious bias drives me crazy. Also, I think the thing about it is that all the news is international, whereas news I would watch at home had more about my own country. Then they put in random things about Steve Jobs and fashion. The only stuff about China is generally historical or what other countries are doing against China. For instance, the story of the US trying to pass tariffs against China is on all the time. I hate how everything on there is on for several days in a row. It could use some variety.

a chinese joke about CCTV:
the first ten minutes content: our leader are busy.
the middle ten minutes content: our people live in happy
the last ten minutes content : other people in the world have miserable life