It's not different than Trump mispelling something in a tweet, or baiting them with something easily misunderstood.
They can't help but to report on it, because they mistakenly think it's to their benefit.
However, the real benefit is the overall concept being inserted into the listeners mind, as the details fade away and the core idea is all that leaves an impression.
They can't help but talk about Q and push it publicly when it seems like they have a nice angle of attack.
But all they're really doing is introducing the public to the concept of Q, what it is, what the movement is, what it represents, and the types of information it contains.
The public will internalize all this, and it will be a very simple mental jump from "they said this is bogus" to "oh turns out this isn't bogus."