They need math intuition so they can tell when the numbers they're looking at just don't add up. They need math mechanics to find the meaning behind figures and data. They need math concepts so they can understand banking and business, bankruptcy and boom times. Journalists would never dream of proclaiming their competence if they had as much trouble with words as they do with numbers. Simply put, journalists need math skills to make sense of numbers the way they need language skills to make sense of words.
Competent journalists are both capable and careful with numbers.
They're quick to spot an implausible number, and they have a basic working knowledge of arithmetic and statistics so they can confirm their suspicions. They know how to calculate percentages, ratios, rates of change and other relationships between numbers that tell far better stories than raw data can. They can translate numbers into terms that readers and viewers can understand. Competent journalists know the difference between the median and the mean. They can read a budget just as well as they can a press release.