Because there's no actual journalism involved. More often than not it's just partisans making stuff up. Especially online.

The latest example came yesterday when I highlighted the utterly dubious report from an amateurish site called Now! Hampshire about how local Democratic officials were recruiting activist to sabotage Tea Party rallies by showing up with racist signs, etc. (Because there aren't enough Tea Partiers willing to do that themselves?)

I noted how the “story” was flimsy beyond belief and that the Democrats in question were never contacted for comment. (i.e. The story was too good to check.) But of course that didn't stop right-wing bloggers like Michelle Malkin for reporting the story as fact. Because in the world of “conservative journalism,” if somebody types up pleasing, source-free facts online, that means they're true.

Slight problem: NH Dems confirmed the story was utterly bogus.

From TPM, a left-leaning online news site that actually practices journalism [emphasis added]:

Former state Democratic Party chair Kathy Sullivan, named in the Now Hampshire post as the instigator of the infiltration plan -- which was tied to her in the post by a source “who sought anonymity for fear of reprisals” -- categorically rejected the claims on the blog.

“This website has made this up,” she told me. “It's a total fabrication.”

...

“I just find it interesting,” she said. "Something gets made up and posted by a right-wing blogger and posted by Michelle Malkin like that. She never called me, never emailed me, never tried to reach me."

Behold, “conservative journalism.”