It may be that the MSM finally mentioned Q because it intends to use a false flag against Q (IE, by having someone in a Q shirt assault a reporter, or something).
And so it first has to inform the general public what Q is about.
I think you are exactly right.
That seems to be what the MSM had planned.
The Secret Service focused on two people at the rally who had signs that said: "Now the Plan" instead of "Trust the Plan."
I suspect the NSA data revealed phone calls and messages that there was a plot for several phony "Q Supporters" to physically attack members of the media.
That's why Jim Acosta from CNN berated Sarah Sanders yesterday - to set up this false narrative, and when she didn't bite Acosta stormed out of the press gallery in an angry huff.
Once the fake attack on the media occurred by the "Q supporters", the press Worldwide would have run 10,000 stories on how President Trump caused the media to be physically attacked.