Feeding frenzy: public accuse the media of deliberately fuelling shark fear
Despite a turning tide of public opinion, Australian media still routinely exaggerate, distort and “beat up” shark stories as way to generate extra clicks, explain Peter Simmons and Michael Mehmet in this crossposting from The Conversation.
Are you scared of sharks? If you never read or watched the news, would you still be?
Last year’s Senate inquiry on shark mitigation and deterrent measures heard evidence that media coverage has contributed to “disproportionately high fear of sharks among the public compared to the actual degree of risk involved”.
That report highlighted the misrepresentation of sharks by sensationalised media coverage, even in cases where shark encounters did not result in injury. The inquiry also heard that media outlets routinely use stock photos of great white sharks even in coverage of stories involving other shark species, and that news media often use emotive language such as “killer”, “invasion”, “deadly”, “savage”, “horror”, “vicious”, and “monster”.
