Agree completely. The media probably has 75% to do with the image other nations see. Another thing, the US is FUCKING HUGE. Europeans who've never been there cannot even grasp the fact that it takes just as long to get from Florida to Texas as it does to travel the entire length of Italy. My students tell me all the time that they want to do a cross-country tour of the US, and when I tell them that it takes about a week to travel coast to coast by car sightseeing, they simply can't believe it. This means that they don't realize that there's a huge difference between living in Texas and living in San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, NYC, etc. Americans are mostly the same as Europeans in their views and ideas, but differ drastically in the fact that we Americans are rabidly fanatic about our country. The only time Europeans show pride in their country is when they're in the World Cup...except for the UK. The English, Irish, Welsh, and Scots are also rabidly fanatic as well about their homeland.
I have to say that I don't know one single European who judges Americans based on what they see on television...they actually realize that we're all individuals and they treat us as individuals, not a collective. They may have certain stereotypes about us, but they realize that they are themselves stereotyped as well. I think they are annoyed by American tourists, not Americans as a whole. American tourists are typically ignorant of the culture around them when they travel, and typically complain that, "We do it THIS way in the US, why can't you be more like us?" That's where the "stupid American" stereotype comes in. Americans and Germans are two of the worst types of tourists, although Germans are a little worse because they're much more rigid than Americans.
However, they typically do not like the military community, but that doesn't have anything to do with Americans as a whole. They realize that the military community around the world is like a radical sect of American people and don't base all opinions just on the military.
Europeans are fascinated by Americans in both good and bad ways. Almost every day I answer questions of how it is to live in the US, how it is to work, things like that. I break it down to them like this: working in the US is a whole shitload better than working in Europe, but living in Europe is much better than living in the US. Europeans want(ed) to work in the US for a couple of years and then return to their homeland...they don't want to live forever in the US. Now that the Euro is kicking ass, that's changing a little. Their biggest fear is our lack of social structure, job security, etc. Here you can go to the finest universities for about 1000 euros per year, IF your family is middle class. If you are somewhat poor, it's free. The same with health benefits. Europe takes care of its people much, much better than the US, but we've still got our problems too. I'm frustrated every single day about something here in Italy that in the US wouldn't even be an issue.
Things like public toilets. WTF is up with public Italian toilets? They're a porcelain hole in the ground...disgusting. In Greece you can't even flush toilet paper, you have to throw it in the garbage...blech. That's like borderline third world, in my opinion.
The US is more convenient and better structured than Europe in all the ways you can think of from a consumer's point of view. But if you want to raise a family and lead a safe, healthy life, you're going to have a few more obstacles in the US if you aren't upper-middle class. In Europe EVERYONE is guaranteed the same benefits; it's not according to how much you pay.
In short, Europeans like the US for it's consumer value, not it's quality of life.