Certainly some journalists don't understand basic statistics, but counter to your insinuation, I'd guess the author of this piece does. Among other degrees, she has a Masters of Science in Biochemistry from UW-Madison: https://www.nytimes.com/by/apoorva-mandavilli. Rather than lowering the standards and expectations for science journalists, I think we should raise them, and applaud the people like this who (likely) do understand what they are writing about.