Earlier quoted context omitted.
"He-said/she-said" is referring to reporting rumours. This is reporting of a public statement of a government agency.
It's also about reporting statements verbatim without trying to discern what the truth is. Writing down a public statement is basically just relaying a message; at that point you are writing a press release for them, not doing journalism. And then you wonder why they replace you with a Reuters feed...
> at that point you are writing a press release for them
Or, as is often the case, cut-and-pasting from a press release they provided you.