Because they could ......
This tells me right away that this guy wasn't much of an editor. I've been a managing editor and it was my job not only to know my reporters but also their beats. That doesn't mean you ask personal questions, but it does mean you communicate and give guidance where necessary. It turns out he had an honest reporter working for him and he found out by accident.
He shouldn’t have been there in the first place. And neither should Tim Russert have been on MTP, even though foolish conservative hosts say he was even-handed. Far from it. He would put the conservative on first every time and then put the liberal on to dispute everything the conservative said, and no one could dispute the liberal because he/she was the last one on. He had other ways of getting his point of view across that the conservative was off the wall while the lib was OK.
George Steps on all of us should never have been hired as, or referred to, as a "journalist." Nor Tim Ruskert. Note, AFAIK no one calls Chris Motormouth a "journalist."
And "journalist" occupies a lower rung on the evolutionary ladder than "reporter."
A simple test...would Karl Rove ever be hired as a "journalist?"