Voters just passed an initiative making adult possession of small amounts of marijuana Denver's "lowest law-enforcement priority."

After the ballots were counted, the Rocky Mountain News ran a story Nov. 8 with the roll-over-and-die headline of, "Marijuana measure not likely to matter."

If the Rocky were acting in the public interest, like journalism professionals are supposed to do, the headline would have read, "Elected leaders stonewalling on marijuana measure."

Instead, we're getting a near complete collapse of journalistic responsibility on this issue.

The Rocky's Nov. 8 piece, for instance, quoted Mayor John Hickenlooper saying that "adult possession of less than an ounce of marijuana is already one of the police department's lowest priorities."

No enterprising reporter at either daily asked Hick if he was aware that voters want pot to be the "lowest," not "one of the lowest," law-enforcement priorities, which would put it below enforcement of jaywalking or driving a few miles over the speed limit.

And no reporter let us know whether Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman, who's said his department doesn't target possession of less an ounce of pot, believes Denver police treat possession of less than an ounce of ganja like jaywalking or minor speeding.

The Rocky's news department even ignored the fact that an identical measure was just implemented in Missoula, Mont.

In Missoula, this happened even though the county attorney personally opposed it.

In the months leading up to the election, the Rocky gave us a couple articles on dead fish in Sloan's Lake, but it failed to investigate why Seattle, which has implemented a similar pot initiative, has more than 10 times fewer people arrested on marijuana possession than Denver does, according to initiative backers.

The Denver Post has at least touched on the Missoula and Seattle cases, reporting Oct. 31 that there's no agreement on why marijuana arrests have declined in Seattle. The Post also ran a valuable piece Sept. 18 on pot laws around the country.

"If this had been the first go of it, we might have been more aggressive," Post reporter Felisa Cardona told me, referring to the fact that Denver voters legalized possession of less than an ounce of pot in 2005. "It was the same people saying the same stuff on marijuana, and I don't think their opinions are going to change anytime soon." (Disclaimer: A client of mine backed the 2005 initiative.)

She has a point, but Denver's 2005 initiative contradicted state marijuana laws that make pot illegal. This year's measure was about enforcement.

Local police make decisions all the time about how strictly to enforce state laws, like speeding, according to Cathryn Hazouri, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado. She thinks the pot measure is enforceable.

Journalists should challenge city officials who claim that our newly passed marijuana initiative is irrelevant or cannot be implemented.

Look west, CNN. When Hillary Rodham Clinton dropped into town last month, the Post framed her speech this way:

"During a week when Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign has touted her electability in the West, the senator from New York made her first public appearance in Colorado on Tuesday without specifically addressing Western issues."

The Post continued the theme on Sunday, reporting that in the first presidential debate ever in Nevada, Democrats "touched only on one specifically Western issue - a proposed nuclear waste dump here, which the pack of seven all oppose."

A great observation, but it wasn't the Democrats' fault. The candidates weren't asked about Western issues by CNN's inside-the-beltway moderators or the audience.

This huge oversight might have been avoided had CNN included a local Nevada reporter as one of the questioners. Maybe next time.

Ignore Post. When a child has a temper tantrum, you try not to pay attention or you can expect more fits in the future.

So, reporters should treat the Post's recent front-page editorial, which was a tantrum of sorts in tone and language, like they would a 2-year old's fit: Ignore it.

In other words, don't quote it because it's the most rabid view out there on Gov. Bill Ritter's plan to partner with state workers.

I'm not saying reporters should always ignore extremists, but they shouldn't jump to cover them if it's clear they're just trying to get attention.

Yet, in a round-up of Gov. Bill Ritter's agenda Nov. 2, the Rocky quoted a couple of the most embarrassing lines from the Post's editorial fit, including schoolyard taunt that our kind governor is a "bag man."

Reporters shouldn't cite the front-page editorial in news coverage.

The Rocky made the mistake of quoting its own editorial on the topic as well. It looks lazy and insular for news reporters to quote their own paper's editorial positions, and newspapers would serve their readers better by reaching outside the office for opinions.