What reporters put between quotation marks isn't simply a quotation. It's a choice about what they believe the person said -- or should have said. Post staff members disagree among themselves and ...

In general, the AP Stylebook says, quotation marks are used “to surround the exact words of a speaker or writer when reported in a story,” or, in this case, a headline.

Yes, quotation marks could have prevented the whole unfortunate incident. But technically you can’t forget a punctuation mark if it was never required in the first place.