Shark attacks have all the
elements of a great news story — they're terrifying, bloody and mesmerizing all
at once. But high-pitched coverage of shark attacks in the media often doesn't
reflect how rare such gruesome encounters are. What's more, a new study
suggests that the disproportionate negative attention could hurt sharks'
chances of survival.
A group of researchers
examined coverage of sharks in newspapers in the United States and Australia
from January 2000 through December 2009. Of 300 articles about sharks randomly
selected from this sample, more than half of the coverage was about shark
attacks on people. A mere 10 percent of the articles focused on shark
conservation issues and just 7 percent centered on shark biology or ecology.
In 2011, there were 75 shark
attacks reported worldwide, a dozen of which were fatal. Despite these
relatively low numbers, the threat sharks pose to humans was emphasized in
nearly 60 percent of the articles the researchers analyzed. Meanwhile, far
fewer articles discussed shark
finning, pollution, habitat loss and other threats to sharks, which
are apex
predators that help balance ecosystems in the world's oceans. An
estimated 73 million sharks are killed annually for their fins alone.
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