Aviation fuel in particular is referenced by weight since the volume changes based on temperature. For all of us living on the ground, the variation isn't much, but for aircraft going up to altitude, the temperature changes the volume significantly. Small aircraft can reference volume (gallons or liters) but any sizeable aircraft will reference weight (pounds or kilograms).
https://gultomaviation.org/2023/02/why-airliners-measure-their-fuel-in-pounds-while-small-ga-airplanes-measure-fuel-in-gallons/
Most individuals outside of aviation wouldn't know (or care) but a news outlet reporting aviation stories would be expected to get it right since the numbers were communicated to them by someone at the airport or the airline. Any "aviation expert" the media outlet calls upon should absolutely know the difference.
Agreed!
It wasn't a news outlet.
It was a post on X that says the origin of that gal/lbs mix-up came from the mayor during an early press conference. The information was corrected less than an hour later.
For reference: