Obviously, the science reporter is a bit challenged when it comes to understanding science. I think what he meant is, of all living inverterbrates, they think echinoderms are the most closely related to the early vertebrates. Of course, if that’s true, it means they could be our very, very, very distant cousins, not our distant evolutionary ancestors.
But either way, it's symptomatic of an intrinsic laziness (and/or sloppiness) in science reporting today. To be honest, I trust NOTHING that is printed in any natural science journal.
Except, of course, if the subject is anthropogenic global warming. They're always right about that.
snort!