In the past few weeks, the paper has been noticeably aggressive in its coverage of Gov. Mike Easley, in the context of reporting on the failures of the state's mental health reform program. The five-part series that began Feb. 24 reported that mental health reform, since implementation in 2001, had wasted $400 million, reduced essential mental health services, failed in shifting patients from mental hospitals to community programs and experienced abuse and deaths of patients in alarming numbers.

Easley refused repeated requests to be interviewed for the series.

The disharmony reached a zenith Tuesday at a testy news conference at which the governor limited questions to 16 minutes, took only one question each from N&O reporters and accused one of "bad behavior." Easley exited from a side door after dispatching a security guard to decoy reporters to a state vehicle on the other side of the Capitol.

On the front page the next day, the paper gave prime play to the governor's proposals to reform the reform. But the article was accompanied by stories questioning the governor's truthfulness, laying out the number of times Easley had refused to be interviewed and describing his artful end-around exit. A picture inside the paper showed two N&O reporters and a photographer staking out the decoy car.

There was also a story on the front page about a public information officer who said she had been told by Easley's press office to routinely erase e-mails about state business to avoid public records laws. Debbie Crane, an 18-year state employee, was fired by Easley on Tuesday over her handling of media relations for the mental health series.

In Thursday's paper, a front-page story had interviews of public relations experts who panned Easley's dealings with the media. Inside were a follow-up to the e-mail story and a story about a 2003 incident when a state official allegedly lied to a reporter on the instructions of the governor's office.

That's a lot of ink and paper aimed at the governor. Is it warranted? "I think we're just doing our job and doing it well," said Executive Editor John Drescher. "The question is whether Easley is doing his job and doing it well.

"By not talking to us on a series of this magnitude, Easley is sending the message that to him it's not really that important."

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DRESCHER SAID THE GOVERNOR WAS EVADING ACCOUNTABILITY for the failure of mental health reform by insisting that he "vigorously opposed" enactment of the 2001 reform law and by refusing to talk to the press about it. He pointed out that Easley signed the law that enacted the program and that his administration has since been responsible for its implementation and oversight.

"I think it's completely fair for us to ask the governor what went wrong ... and to challenge his insistence that he vigorously opposed the 2001 legislation that he signed," Drescher said.

Also last week, The N&O directed its attorney to demand that Easley instruct state officials not to destroy e-mails. The N&O has repeatedly been told there were no records when reporters have asked for e-mail correspondence among state officials. Drescher said the paper is considering legal action to force the administration to obey public records laws as they apply to e-mails.

I asked Easley's press office for reaction to The N&O's coverage. Renee Hoffman, the governor's press secretary, responded with an e-mail that said officials were surprised by the aggressive tone. "If you read the transcript from [Tuesday] or see the video, The N&O questions were about blame -- and the governor wanted to focus on going forward. He laid out an extensive plan, and we are really disappointed the four reporters who covered the event didn't put the plan out there."

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