It was a concealable, downsized assault rifle.

AKM sbr anyone? If manufactured in this configuration, it's technically a pistol.

And then we have this beautiful little toy from Kel-Tec; the Kel-Tec PLR-16. It's a pistol, but it has a gas-impingment action similar to the AR-15, fires the glorious 5.56x45/.223 remington cartridge of glorious capitalism, and takes STANAG magazines in certain configurations -- for all intents, it to is naught but an SBR, but since it was manufactured as a pistol, the name sticks with it.

Finally, pistol of glorious soviet motherland, the obrez is a "pistol"...that was made from the glorious remains of that hero of stalingrad -- the m91/30 mosin-nagant rifle. It fire glorious 7.62x54r, full powered, capitalist pig killing, rifle cartidges....

But, yes, I tend to think that the media would be unaware of these glorious devices, and thus it probably is indeed a case of journalistic stupidity...