What makes you think they aren't real emails?
Anyway, setting up a character to ask hard questions and or express doubt to prompt explanations is a good teaching tool. It's used in movies and shows often as a kind of exposition.
Galileo used the same method when writing his Dialogue on orbital systems
Emails just aren't written like that. And they fucked up the timestamp format, and even the name format at the end.
It's an excuse to write an opinion piece without calling it an opinion piece.
The last email does break the timestamp pattern and the name (Z. Byron vs Zachary) but that may be consistent with a different sending device, for example, using a mobile to write the response over lunch.
It's presented as an informal debate in the politics section. That is clearly an opinion piece.
What a bizarre way to write an article. These are clearly not real emails, so why frame it that way?