Has Sensationalistic Programming Demonized Sharks?
Ever since Jaws first cast sharks as villains, the sharks of the world have been having been having a hard time getting out of that role. In later years, Jaws author Peter Benchley realized the long-lasting impacts of his first novel and became a devoted advocate for shark conservation.
In Ocean Planet: Writings and Images of the Sea, Benchley writes:
“No, the shark in an updated Jaws could not be the villain; it would have to be written as the victim, for, worldwide, sharks are much more the oppressed than the oppressors. Every year, more than a hundred million sharks are slaughtered by man. It has been estimated that for every human life taken by a shark, 4.5 million sharks are killed by humans. And rarely for a useful purpose.”
For many people, their only exposure to sharks is from TV and newspapers. When the media sensationalized shark attacks and dubbed 2001 “Summer of the Shark”, they increased public fear of sharks and made it seem like there were MORE shark attacks that year; when in fact, there were 15% fewer shark attacks than the previous year. Actions such as these are harmful to the reputation of sharks. There are HUNDREDS of species of shark, and only a small handful of species are ever involved in attacks.
And yet, sharks still remain cast as villains. Sensationalistic programming takes advantage of people’s fear of sharks and uses that fear to draw people in. Discovery Channel’s annual “Shark Week” has been “pandering to the fear factor”, to borrow a phrase from my friend Dr. David E. Guggenheim. Last year’s titles include “Ocean of Fear”, “Top Five: Eaten Alive”, “Surviving Sharks” and “How Not to Become Shark Bait”. This year you can expect to see shows such as “Great White Appetite”, “Sharkbite Summer”, “Deadly Waters” and “Blood in the Water”. Because of this sensationalistic portrayal of sharks, the Discovery Channel is reinforcing the public’s fear of sharks and undermining conservation efforts.
There is a whole blog devoted to the controversy surrounding Shark Week, called Discovery’s Shame. Discovery Channel Senior Science Editor Paul Gasek has agreed to be interviewed about the controversy over at Southern Fried Science. In preparation, David (aka WhySharksMatter) has put out a call for questions for his upcoming interview. You can submit your questions in the comments section of his blog post until 5pm on Tuesday, June 23. And while you’re over at Southern Fried Science, go read David’s post on four things EVERYONE needs to know about sharks.
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I hated shark week for that reason allegedly this year may be different showing evolution and rare arctic species but I’ll wait to see.
Great site.
It sure hasn’t helped them, PR-wise. But most people were frightened of sharks before cable TV came along. If anything, people were more frightened because of all the misinformation, even in, say, the scuba diving community. I remember hearing, back in the early seventies, “Oh don’t dive at night. THEY come in to feed at night.”
And back before cable TV, I had an argument going with a New Haven, CT Vegetarian natural food store called “Edge of the Woods”. The only products they sold that weren’t vegetarian were shark cartilage. I’m not a vegetarian, but I was annoyed that somehow sharks had been singled out in this context. I spoke to the manager and was ignored. Left a note for the owner, and got no response. And my conversation with the buyer in the supplement department was informative. She told me that it was okay to kill sharks because sharks were bad.
Say what?
And by way of proof, she told me about the time she’d been swimming off Cape Cod or someplace and had seen a shark. This shark had ignored her, but merely seeing it had frightened her so badly that this was proof to her that sharks were bad.
Think on that less-than-keen thought process next time you see organic wild-crafted wombatflower root tincture for sale at the natural foods outlet.
On the flip side, the market has very nice vegetables at quite reasonable prices…
So hey, one can’t really blame the sensationalist TV shows entirely for the sharks reputations. But when I see Shark Week promos, I think “Oh, there’s the Discovery Channel whoring sharks again. It must be sweeps week.”
My bigger beef is I would like to see a broader diversity of animals featured. Let’s have Cephalopod Week, or, better yet, Ctenophore Week!