I don't think it was intended to be sensationalist, just a pun with the words. It's one of those non-issue stories that are sort of tongue in cheek so the writer has a bit of fun.
I think most outlets have pretty much given up writing anything serious about Apple based alarm issues as they've been a thing for years (whether it's user error or otherwise), hence why this one in particular is just quoting people on TikTok of all places.
It's been a problem for years. I cannot use the standard bedtime alarm. From my experience, it seems it may be an issue if you have the "focus" change it's state at the same time as your alarm goes off.
I think I finally isolated my issue with the alarms. It’s CarPlay. It resets my alarm audio to 0% after I disconnect. I just set up an “audio level reset” shortcut that sets alarm volume to 80% and set it to run when CarPlay disconnects.