That’s because they were journalism majors. Take a look at the science requirements for a Liberal Arts degree. I got my degree back in 74 and even back then we had courses for students majoring in the subject, a somewhat watered down series for other science and engineering majors and “science for dummies” – excuse me “survey” level for everyone else. Name any subject – Economics, say, or History – the same thing applied.

They’re taught to be reporters, not to know and understand the subjects they’ll be reporting on.