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"Invite" is a verb, and "invitation" is a noun. Journalists should know better.

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Invite is an also a noun meaning invitation. Invitation is the more formal version of the same concept.

You can say "I wish she was not so informal", but that's a perfectly reasonable use of the word.

Invite dates to 1649 and invitation dates to the 15th century. (m-w.com)

You can say "I wish she was not so informal", but that's a perfectly reasonable use of the word

Surely it should be "I wish she were not so informal"?

No, "were" would only be used if you were supposing a condition different than reality. When used in the first person, it's the past subjunctive. So a valid sentence with "were" might be:

"If she were a man."

As the writer is in informal in the judgement of the commenter, the commenter therefore should use "was".

But the wished-for condition is exactly that, or else it wouldn't have to be wished for. Yes, the writer is informal -- but the condition wished for is "not so informal".

Good point.

I stand corrected. The use of the word in this context feels colloquial though.

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