1) Yes, they are mostly wrong, the media exaggerates hugely to make the story more interesting. There may have been a casino somewhere once upon a time that never shuffled, used a small number of decks and had rules very favorable to the players, but in 99.9% of casinos the math simply does not work.
2) The Griffin book and casino security are mostly directed at real cheaters. If they happen to throw a few card counters in there thats great, but saying the Griffin book exists to catch cheaters is like saying that the police exist to catch people who are jaywalking. Sure, a handful of people have gotten in trouble for it, but it is not the primary purpose. Personally I think they throw those few card counters in there for marketing purposes more than anything.
3) Never heard of people filing bogus lawsuits against major corporations in an attempt to get money? OK, maybe casinos in Vegas were run by violent and dangerous people like 50 years ago, but the idea of that happening today over someone trying to count cards is just silly.
4) OK, so there are some books targeted at casinos about the odds of blackjack and how to set up your game profitably. This makes it just like every single other popular game out there.
To be clear I am not saying card counting is impossible. Just that the profits will be negligible over the long term even under ideal circumstances that you are not likely to ever see.
Since you like choices so much here is one for you:
a) The casinos decided to set up a game they knew the could lose money on, build elaborate security systems, and hire teams of security people just to prevent losing a couple bucks to a few highly skilled players.
b) The casinos decided to adjust the odds to the point that they were favored no matter what.