First I checked the paper newspaper. Twice. Then I looked at the on-line version of The Gazette. Amazingly, not a word was written about the anti-ObamaCare rally in Acacia Park Wednesday.

I'm fairly certain it happened. I was there. More than a thousand other citizens (and newspaper readers) were there, too, to voice legitimate concerns about the Democrat plan to overhaul the American health care system. A few television news trucks showed, so I know it must have gotten some play in the electronic media. But the city's daily -- a daily struggling for readership, relevance, profitability and survival -- couldn't be bothered to send a reporter or photographer six or seven blocks to get the story.

When rally attendees opened this morning's paper, or logged on to Gazette.com, looking for some coverage of an event and issue they care about, they found nothing, a big zero. Extensive front page coverage was given to the nice things some granola-cruncher magazine said about the Springs. But a protest in the heart of the city didn't happen, as far as the Gazette's news side is concerned.

The Gazette's coverage of the first tea party at Acacia Park was snide and condescending, but at least the paper showed up. But this is hard to interpret as anything other than a snub -- as a signal that The Gazette's news side just doesn't think tea party-type people have anything relevant to say, or are worth covering. That's a little odd, not to mention self-defeating, because there are a lot of tea party-type people in this town, even if they don't show up at rallies, many of whom subscribe to a newspaper that just determined that their views are non-news.

These people may continue to read The Gazette, if only because the paper's libertarian editorial voice speaks to the issues they care about. But if enough of them begin to feel disrespected and disregarded by the news side of The Gazette, and if enough of these non-entities become non-readers, this will only hasten the speed with which the city's "old media" flagship is sinking.