I came to the conclusion on this specific question long ago that, like most things, it's mostly political. There's political/social power to be gained and lost

I came to the conclusion on this specific question long ago that, like most things, it's mostly political. There's political/social power to be gained and lost by pushing negative stories about Boeing and suppressing negative stories about Airbus (and the opposite of course; suppressing positive stories about Boeing, pushing positive stories about Airbus). Just your typical information warfare.