  We develop a formalism for studying vector meson ($V$) photo-production at
the proton ($p$) with polarized photons, $\vec\gamma p \to V p $, through an
analysis of the decay distribution in the channel $V\to\pi^0\gamma$. We show
that this decay distribution differs noticeably from the distributions of
purely hadronic decays, like $\phi\to K^+K^-$, $\omega\to \pi^0\pi^+\pi^-$.
Formulas for the decay distributions are presented which are suitable for data
analysis and interpretation.
