MEDIA RELATIONS - WHY WE NEED TO IMPROVE THE BIOTECH INDUSTRY'S RELATIONS WITH THE MEDIA

At the first Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) meeting, in Toronto in 1994, the organisers had to hire a public relations firm to get members of the media to attend. In comparison, at last year's BIO 2001 meeting held in San Diego over 500 members of the press were registered and the organisers are expecting even greater media attention this year. In less than a decade the media has gone from being cynical, nervous or uninterested in biotechnology to embracing it. That is true, at least in the US, where there is a fledgling symbiotic relationship between the biotech industry and the business and science media.