The Times today takes a closer look at Sharon Angle, the GOP nominee for the U.S. Senate race in Nevada, and the fact that she has basically refused to speak to mainstream journalists. (She has, however, made time for Fox News and right-wing AM talk show hosts.)

Incredibly though, the Times fails to connect the obvious dots and does not see Angle's actions as part of a larger GOP/conservative trend of candidates refusing to interact with journalists. The Times doesn't see the obvious attempt by Tea Party-friendly candidates to delegitimize the mainstream media by circumventing independent reporters and to only deal with cheerleading partisans.

And yes, of course, the trend was started by Palin, who barely makes a cameo appearance in the Times article.

As I noted last week, we're likely going to see more GOP candidates in future campaign cycles boycott the press. We're going to see more conservative politicians walk away from the long-standing tradition of speaking to their constituents, and being held accountable, via the news media. We're going to see more far-right politicians actively trying to undercut the role the press plays in our democracy. And yet journalists at places like the New York Times still won't really spell out what's happening.

As I've suggested many times, it's hard to imagine the type of derision volcano that would have erupted within the Beltway chattering class if, in the year following his 2000 defeat, Al Gore refused to answer any questions from independent journalists. Or if after publishing a book, Hillary Clinton only sat for interviews on MSNBC and Air America, the way Palin only sat for friendly partisan interviews last year. But rather than derision, the press rewarded Palin's snub with more glowing coverage.

The fact is that more and more Republicans are making a partisan, calculated decision to declare war on the press and appear determined to undermine it at every turn. But in today's Times, the newspaper refuses to explicitly acknowledge that obvious fact. The Times refuses to see any nefarious GOP pattern in play.