Vast left wing conspiracy...

Or just talking points?

For the past two years, several hundred left-leaning bloggers, political reporters, magazine writers, policy wonks and academics have talked stories and compared notes in an off-the-record online meeting space called JournoList.

Conspiracy, or just laziness?

But some of the journalists who participate in the online discussion say — off the record, of course — that it has been a great help in their work. On the record, The New Yorker’s Jeffrey Toobin acknowledged that a Talk of the Town piece — he won’t say which one — got its start in part via a conversation on JournoList. And JLister Eric Alterman, The Nation writer and CUNY professor, said he’s seen discussions that start on the list seep into the world beyond.

“I’m very lazy about writing when I’m not getting paid,” Alterman said. “So if I take the trouble to write something in any detail on the list, I tend to cannibalize it. It doesn’t surprise me when I see things on the list on people’s blogs.”

Read the article, Personally I don't see a conspiracy here. What I do see is writers taking the easy way and instead of actually doing their jobs using someone else's words and writing "factual" articles and passing it off as work. Probably helps to explain the almost lockstep reporting that is coming from the left and the downturn in readership. If it all sounds the same, why read more than one of them.