Can you trust the media?

One of my favorite things to do if I have the time is to watch the national evening news. I especially love flipping between channels to see each network's interpretation of current events.

Tonight, there was a major story about Sport Utility Vehicle safety and a new report issued by the government. I am not kidding when I tell you that ABC and CBS had exactly opposite viewpoints on the same story.

CBS News reported that new crash statistics indicate that SUV deaths were slightly higher than those of ordinary cars, but that since there are almost five times more cars on the road than SUVs, many more people are killed in cars than in SUVs. Also, significantly, CBS suggested that older SUVs had a much higher rate of fatalities than newer SUVs, which have advanced safety technology.

Two minutes later, I saw the same story covered on ABC. ABC completely contradicted CBS's version of the story. ABC said that SUVs were far more dangerous than cars because they have a higher rollover rate, and that SUV drivers who claim they feel safer in the bigger vehicles have a false sense of security. ABC also explicitly said there was no statistical difference in crash ratings between older and newer SUVs!!

Who do you believe?