When Judy Morgan from The Westfield Gazette wrote the the newspaper article about Nick Allen's idea to call pens "frindles," everyone was surprised.  First, Nick's mom showed him the article and asked "What is the meaning of this?!" She asked if Nick had spoken to the reporter.  Next, the school superintendent went to Mrs. Chatham, the principal of Lincoln Elementary School, and said "What is the meaning of this?!"  The superintendent was not pleased that Mrs. Chatham had spoken to the newspaper reporter.  Then Mrs. Chatham went to Mrs. Granger and asked "What is the meaning of this?!"  Mrs. Chatham was not pleased that Mrs. Granger had told the reporter so much.

Another way to say this phrase would be "what is going on?" or "what is happening?"  Each person is asking how such an article could have been published because everyone seemed to have given the reporter too much information.