What's the problem? Lots of newspapers have separate news and editorial teams who don't talk to each other and only learn about what the other team is doing when the paper comes out. Nature may well be doing the same thing. I don't know if there is anything funny here
It is structurally impossible for these teams to actually be independent. All claims to the contrary are risibly and offensively false and should always be met with vocal contempt lest they start to sound credible to too many people.
