J-School Admits Biotech University was Basically a Scam
Do you remember Biotech University? It’s that scam of a reporting contest/biotechnology conference we alerted you to a couple months ago that was basically propaganda for biotechnology companies like Monsanto.
Well, here’s a fun update. Even though the administrators of Biotech University claimed it was a legitimate and balanced event, the Missouri School of Journalism feels differently. Based on complaints from J-School students and faculty, you will not be required to attend the Biotech University brainwashing weekend seminar to participate in the reporting contest next year.
We first learned about these changes to Biotech University in an email that Columbia Missourian Editor Tom Warhover sent to the Print & Digital News faculty and that was forwarded to us by a tipster who asked to remain anonymous.
Several faculty members expressed concern to the J-School’s Executive Committee about the relationship between Biotech University and the journalism school. According to our tipster, “It seemed that the discussion was independent of your critique at JSB…but the concerns were similar.”
The faculty’s main concern was the same as ours, which is that the weekend conference was required for anyone who wanted to enter the reporting contest. You don’t even need to be a Mizzou student to enter the contest next year.
Warhover told us in a follow-up email that, “We want students to win scholarships if they can. College ain’t free, or cheap. Requiring attendance at one to win the other was where the ethical questions really centered.”
As we pointed out last time, we were alarmed at the one-sided nature of Biotech University. While biotechnology is a controversial topic that has quite a few detractors, the conference presented only the positives about biotechnology and ignored the negatives. The conference’s organizers have promised to make the event more balanced by presenting more opposing viewpoints about biotechnology.
We will be around in the fall to see if Biotech University actually keeps that promise. Consider this one a victory for journalism that isn’t just PR masquerading as such.
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We feel the need to respond to the inaccurate and sensational approach you have taken in regard to your coverage of Biotech University. You falsely declare that the “School of Journalism” found Biotech University to be “a scam.” You base this on one anonymous source but not even your source appeared to call the program any such thing. The fact is that the School of Journalism co-sponsored the program two years in a row and plans to do so again this fall. That’s because the program offers journalism students an excellent opportunity to learn about a complex science from experts in the field, and to learn from professional journalists techniques they use in reporting on this issue.
You have repeatedly and incorrectly stated that opposing viewpoints on biotechnology were not presented at Biotech University. Not so. At the 2010 seminar—a seminar you did not attend—an anti-biotech video produced by Greenpeace was shown to seminar attendees. And St. Louis Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau Chief Bill Lambrecht spoke to students about the pros and cons of the subject in his lecture to students.
Yes, after consultations with Journalism School faculty members, we are making changes in the program to open it to a broader audience. Journalism students at other schools in Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska will be invited to attend the two day seminar at MU and enter the reporting contest. And no longer will students be required to attend the seminar in order to participate in the reporting contest.
We will still be offering a trip to a biotech conference overseas as the grand prize for the reporting contest winner. In addition, scholarships totaling $6,000 will be awarded to four other students who enter the contest and whose work earns high ratings by our independent panel of judges. The fall seminar will be September 30-October 1. We hope you will attend to find out what the real story is about Biotech University.
Steve Veile, Manager, Biotech University
Couple things.
Requiring that students be subjected to more than 12 hours of pro-biotechnology propaganda and then have those students enter a reporting contest about biotechnology is a scam. That the seminar next year will include speakers who are opposed to biotechnology and that the seminar is not a requirement to enter the reporting contest are the grounds for me labeling Biotech University as it was previously set up a scam.
And wow, a whole video from Greenpeace?! So, over the course of a day and a half of pro-biotech speakers and presentations, you found time to squeeze in a single video from Greenpeace about the negative repercussions of biotechnology? How…objective. I’m sorry we didn’t mention the video in our post, but our reporting was partly based on three attendees of the 2010 Biotech University as well as an email interview I conducted with you. None of our sources mentioned the Greenpeace video. We are only as good as our sources, and we would have included that information if your or our other sources had given us that information.
And as for Bill Lambrecht, he was at the 2009 Biotech University I attended, and I would characterize his speech as mildly positive. It wasn’t as outright supportive as the rest of the event’s speakers, but you would be right to say he presented some of biotech’s negatives.
I will leave it up to this site’s new editors as to whether they send someone to Biotech University, but you can reach the new Editor-in-Chief Claudia Tran at CTran@JSchoolBuzz.com
Look, I’m not the hugest fan of JSB, but I think that your response is lacking and selective in several ways.
First, lets start with your lame attempt to claim that opposing viewpoints really are welcome at Biotech University. Your example of this is one anti-biotech video and a reporter chat demonstrate that Biotech University listens to the anti-biotech crowd. First off, Greenpeace is often an organization that you cite when you want to mock your opposition (this is the same orgnization that once advocated banning chlorine.) Secondly, just because you have one video among several doesn’t mean that you are giving the opposition any kind of fair shake. Hopefully next time ya’ll will invite few legitimate opponents and allow them some time to speak their minds.
But your broader point is also misguided. I disagree that Biotech is a “scam,” which implies that it has no inherent value. I think that learning about Biotechnology in agriculture (especially from the people who are involved in creating and developing the technology) is something that is very valuable to participate in. However, I think that an issue that Teeghman and I are raising is that having a reporting contest that likely rewards people who suck up to the Biotech industry is a problem, and having them engage in a conference that may slant their thinking in one direction before their report is masquerading PR as journalism.
Obviously, Biotech University is free to give out whatever scholarship it wants, and it can judge who is most qualified. But I tend to think that when you talk about a reporting contest that doesn’t necessarily reward objective reporting, it is a problem that should be addressed.
Thanks for the input, Greg. I just wanted to clarify that I was referring to Biotech University as a scam, not biotechnology as a whole. I’m sorry I wasn’t clear enough.
On the basis of good reporting, JSB will be sending someone to Biotech University in the fall.
While I didn’t write the article, which reflects the views of previous EiC David Teeghman, this is not a personal or sensational attack on Biotech University. This is an opinion, and as JSB is a student-run website dedicated to the education of the journalism students running it, we will be continuing our on-going investigation of Biotech University throughout the year.