Media's Feeding Frenzy on Shark Attacks
Shark attacks, we know they happen and we also know that more people are killed by cows in a year, or from trying to take selfies, than they are by a shark.
But shark attacks grab the headlines, they sell papers and act as tempting click bait. Emotive words such killer, swarm, savage, stalked or monster are invariably used. Or we get 'real-life Jaws'.
Such headlines spread fear compared to the actual risk of being attacked by a shark. Indeed, last year recorded shark attacks were down.
READ: Selfies More Deadly Than Sharks
It may seem like there are more shark attacks, but that's because they make a big media impact, a bit like plane crashes, you notice them more because of their uncommonality. There are more stories about domestic violence or car fatalities, but these command more column inches and imagery due to their relative infrequency.
Of course, shark attacks are horrific, even more so when it results in death, but gruesome death has always grabbed the headlines and our attention - just look at the Victorian coverage of Jack The Ripper or our continued obsession with true crime. These killers aren't murderers though, we are swimming in their playground. You wouldn't go jogging in the Sarengetti, so you take a calculated risk when you enter their domain. When sharks approach humans on surfboards, in kayaks or as swimmers, it’s either defensiveness or curiosity.
And that appears to be what happened in the latest shark attack fatality, where a 63 year old woman has been killed by a great white in the first fatal shark attack on record in the US state of Maine. The species was confirmed by analysing tooth fragments left in the victim.
And The Mirror in the UK used that to compare it directly to Jaws. Their report said: In the 1975 film Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg, shark expert Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) is able to confirm a Great White is behind multiple fatalities off a tourist island in New England after finding a tooth in a sunken boat's hull.
They weren't the only ones, others compared it to the films opening attack of Chrissie Watkins, even though though the victim was swimming with her daughter and had a wet suit on. Again, emotive imagery.
Others talked of 'Jaws nightmare' in their headlines and the attack sending 'a shudder of terror up and down the East Coast.'
Many of the reports have made much of it being only the second recorded attack - and first fatality - in the waters off Maine, and that Great Whites are infrequent to the area. They have been an increasing presence in the area over the last few years.
We aren't saying such attacks shouldn't be covered, but it's the sensationalism that irks, along with an accompanying picture of the largest, meanest looking Great White they can find a picture of.
And with recent reports of a shark - again believed to be a Great White - grabbing a boy from a boat in Tasmania before his dad freed him - and a surfer in Australia punching a shark twice on the nose to escape its clutches, you'd almost think there was a coordinated plan from sharks against humans.
Which of course there isn't. And that is part of the problem with the words that are used. The word 'attack' insinuates that it has been planned, and despite what happened in Jaws The Revenge, sharks don't hold grudges.
A calm and curious ‘Deep Blue’, the world’s largest Great White shark swimming alongside Ocean Ramsey.
Sharks aren't swimming round waiting for surfers or swimmers to cross their path. We'll read the shark stories whatever, we want just less of the hype and hyperbole. It doesn't help us and it certainly doesn't help sharks. We are simply in their domain when we enter the water.
READ: Global Shark Attacks Remain Low For Second Year Running
Do you think sharks are misrepresented in the news media? Or have recent attack stories made you take more care in the water or leave the water altogether?
