Well, considering the editorial writing of the staff in recent years (and certain forum posts), I want to think that they have their heaRAB on straight. Justin Sevakis, after all, was an early advocate of online anime at a time when nobody was doing it and it was just a nice idea.
There are a few possibilities. One is that they know and are not reporting it because they want to focus to be on the fact that Funi's security is really wanting, or they don't want to give a certain group the attention that they are craving. Another is that they think they know but the evidence is tenuous enough that they don't think it's good enough to print. Yet another is that they don't know and the wording difference is just a coincidence, which seems a bit unlikely to me but by no means impossible.
The thing is there's lots of internet speculation out there about this, so maybe focusing ire in the correct place would be a net good. But at a minimum, if either of the first two conditions are the case, then as I said they should at least pass that on to FUNimation even if they aren't completely sure. What's not good enough to report as a reporter would still be valid to pass on as a fan in this situation.
Edit: Good points made in this forum post by ANN's editor in chief (tempest), which I'll quote below without comment since I can't direct link to posts over there like I can here: