One can only expect people being shot at on a regular basis to be patient about this with their bosses who have armored limos and body guards for so long.

If the press had been reporting this every day, instead of just occasionally, there would be complaints about that as well. The reason is obvious: it's embarrassing to the Administration. If there were adequate armor, the Administration would not be embarrassed. Providing armor is not the press's job.

As for your assertion that "the press" has no real interest in improving the military's ability to fight the war, that is a sweeping assertion with as much validity as a sweeping assertion about any human endeavor can have. I could just as easily say that aerospace engineers have no real interest in getting people into space. In view of how many people there have been sent vs. machines, I could make a shallow case for that, if I were to disregard the detail that aerospace engineers have personal reasons and objectives for their work.

Perhaps members of the press have no interest in helping the war effort but a lot of interest in helping the soldiers come home alive, eventually. Pushing to provide armor would be consistent with that aim. Did you think of that?