Four Syllables, Starts With M, Ends With Uh-Oh

One Toke Over the Line?

Ryan Grim, a reporter for the Politico, the new Capitol Hill newspaper and Web site, called the White House drug policy office for comment last week.

Tom Riley, a spokesman for the office, recognized the name. Grim, he says, had called the office long ago, saying he was a reporter, but was using an e-mail address from the Marijuana Policy Project, where he worked. The group's goal is to legalize the drug.

Riley did not return Grim's call. Instead, as the Politico disclosed, Riley called Martin Tolchin, the paper's senior publisher, to point out that the reporter was hardly unbiased.

"He then threatened to complain to Washington Post media columnist Howard Kurtz about a conflict of interest," the Politico said.

That was not necessary (although such calls are always welcome here on the media beat). I contacted Riley the day the story appeared.

"The idea of someone who had been an activist on this now being a staff writer purporting to write about it objectively . . . is ludicrous," Riley says.

"It'd be like a lobbyist for Philip Morris going to write about smoking issues for The Post."

Politico Executive Editor John Harris says that Grim, who was hired from Washington's City Paper, has a "reliable record" as a reporter. "There are lot of people at publications who have gone from advocacy jobs in a previous career to non-advocacy roles," Harris says. "The story was motivated by journalistic interest, not his particular views on the subject."

Grim's story said President Bush is seeking a 31 percent funding hike for an anti-drug advertising campaign "that government-funded research shows is at best useless and at worst has increased drug use among some teens." Riley calls the piece "totally slanted," saying it fails to note that marijuana use among teenagers has declined over the last five years.