A matter of perspective I think. I think the bible does a little more than report those events, but then so does CNN...and in that respect, I could make a case that both are endorsing those events simply by reporting them! God was certainly aware that some people could and would view those stories as endorsements of all sorts of behavior he had no intention of endorsing. By the same token, CNN knows that some people will view their coverage of certain events as endorsements of equally negative behavior! Didn't Hinkley try to kill Regan because he wanted to become famous?...isn't it endorsing murder and rape and other crimes by devoting so much attention to people that commit those crimes. (Sorry, not a fan of the news media).
I can also understand why people would interpret many stories in the bible as God endorsing various negative activities...and again, from a particular perspective, they are correct. God did endorse all sorts of behaviors and actions that we consider "wrong"...even some that he seemed to say were wrong (creating numerous apparent "contradictions" in the bible...for example, "thou shall not kill" versus telling the Israelite army to kill all the inhabitants of a conquered city).
The problem with this perspective is that it ignores the premise of these endorsements...specifically, it doesn't acknowledge that the advice was offered in response to VERY specific questions. ...and if you go to the bible with those same questions, you're going to find endorsements of all sorts of un-Godly behavior! On the other hand, if you ask a different set of questions, those stories transform from endorsements of negative behavior to warnings about the danger of thinking we can protect ourselves from the consequences of sin.
Imagine a group of say 100 people living in a totally isolated environment (in a bubble if you will). If those 100 people followed God's law as revealed in the old testament, they would absolutely minimize the impact of sin on their environment. The probability that any of those 100 people would risk death by stoning (or some other harsh punish for sin) would be much lower than it is in our world...and if someone did cross the line, the swift and impartial judgment and execution of the penalty would prevent that person from committing the sin again and further damaging the environment (not to mention how it would up the deterrent force). Voila, as close to utopia as we humans can imagine...and would you choose to live there or here?
The way I see it, God DID endorse rape, murder, etc.. as the only hope WE could have of creating peace on earth within the bubble we live in...and he knew when he provided those instructions that we couldn't and wouldn't be able to follow them to the letter and that we would still suffer from the sins of others (up to and including wars). The "do-it-yourself" strategy...designed to prove to US once and for all that we can't do it without his direct intervention! Enter Jesus with the message that if we will accept our lot in this life and seek to follow his will for our own life, he will take care of everything else (including vengance) in his own time and invite us to live with him in a place where "world peace" isn't an oxymoron!