Distrust of the mainstream media has been among the strongest sentiments uniting philosophically diverse tea party activists, who almost universally believe the national media have purposefully underestimated their ranks, highlighted their extremes or portrayed them as racists, rednecks or worse — that is, when it wasn’t ignoring them completely.

What then, to make of the fact that an increasing number of media outlets appear to be devoting increasing resources to chronicling the movement, culminating in a massive media presence at this weekend’s self-proclaimed National Tea Party Convention?

Organizers initially moved to limit access to outlets deemed friendly to the cause, including Fox News Channel, The Wall Street Journal, Breitbart.com, Townhall.com and World Net Daily. But they later relented and now say they’ve issued 200 press credentials, including multiple passes each to many of the elite national media organizations regularly disparaged by conservative activists as Democratic shills — the hated liberal mainstream media, or MSM.

Both the organizers and convention participants have seemed to revel in the media spotlight and have used the attention to chastise the press for what they view as shoddy coverage, though some refused to talk to reporters at all.

“The mainstream media is the enemy,â€