People — Americans in particular — are not good at assessing risks,
benefits, and statistics regarding them. [bladam]

So True.  I’m reminded of Jay Leno’s "Headlines" bit which includes headlines such as:
"Deaths cause fatality rate to rise" .

Media rarely just reports the news, they report it with their slant on it.  The same news reported a different way would convey an opposite message.  Even newstory headlines are impartial.

Statistics and polls can be presented to support virtually any agenda.  And only the polls and statistics that support an agenda will be sited.