I think that in the context of the article having less interest in working with inanimate object means wanting to work with the objects is not a reason one takes the job.

Yes, successful investigative journalists work with documents. But do they become investigative journalists because they want to work with documents? Or do they become investigative journalists because they want to uncover the truth behind stories, and documents are simply tools used as part of that?

Compare documents to cars. There are many people who like cars, and because of that seek out a career where they get to work with cars and don't really car what the cars are being used for.