Because there is a concurrent story about the EU being unhappy about the US requiring visas for citizens of some member states (Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland and Romania). The EU wants equal treatment for everyone.
And within the context of that story, some voices are indeed calling for the EU to impose visa requirements on US citizens.
The likelihood of this actually happening is, of course, extremely low. To quote the European Commission:
Why is the Commission not proposing the reintroduction of visas for citizens from the United States?
In view of the significant progress achieved over the past three and a half years, the Commission maintains its position that diplomatic engagement continues to be the most appropriate way forward [...] still considers that the adoption of measures temporarily reintroducing visa requirements for U.S. citizens would be counterproductive at this moment and would not help achieve visa-free travel for all EU citizens [...] not likely to improve the situation for citizens and businesses on either side of the Atlantic [...] The Commission believes that progress can be achieved with continued engagement and diplomatic contacts [...] The Commission will however keep this position under review in light of future developments.
Details
here.
Anyways, that’s likely a reason why some took the new ETIAS (which is very similar to the US’s ESTA and Canada’s ETA) as some sort of visa scheme.
Another reason would be that many journalists (particularly at some media outlets) are lazy, and are all too happy to regurgitate a story they read elsewhere without the slightest vetting of their own. So one erroneous piece instantly goes viral.