Report exposes flaws in American-style democracy

Graphics shows money politics in the United States went further in 2017, as the wealthy groups controlled the political development, said a report on U.S. human rights released on April 24, 2018. (Xinhua/Lu Zhe)

BEIJING, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Money politics in the United States went further in 2017, as the wealthy groups controlled the political development, said a report on U.S. human rights released Tuesday.

The report, titled "Human Rights Record of the United States in 2017" and released by the Information Office of the State Council, China's cabinet, said money politics made inequality worse in the United States.

The money politics has made American economic policies over the last 40 years "strongly reflect the preferences of the most affluent, but bear virtually no relationship to the preferences of poor or middle-income Americans," said the report.

It noted that democratic politics went weakening. An expert survey on American democracy showed that 89 percent of respondents believed the democratic quality in the United States had declined over the last 10 years.

The media was suppressed in the United States, said the report.

In 2017, a number of news organizations were rejected by the U.S. government in press conferences and other official activities, and the CNN and New York Times, among others, were barred from White House briefings, it said.

Press freedom in the United States is at its lowest point in 13 years, according to a CNN report in 2017.

Another survey from the Pew Research Center on April 4, 2017 showed that 73 percent of adult respondents in the country believed the tensions between the government and the news media were getting in the way of access to important national political news and information.