We regret to inform you that they’re trying to cancel Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week” over a lack of diversity — both race and gender — on the various episodes in a week of programming devoted to sharks.
A thread from Dr. David Schiffman, a white male marine biologist:
It is difficult to overstate how badly the Discovery Channel in general and Shark Week specifically are failing to meet The Moment we are in right now (AKA why their typical nonsense bothers me more in 2020 than in past years) ?
— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) July 28, 2020
(Recall that my specific area of expertise is where people learn wrong information and how it affects their behavior and policy preferences. I do this with respect to threatened species, but same principles apply more broadly)
— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) July 28, 2020
The two biggest things happening in the USA right now are a pandemic made worse by leaders and citizens not trusting science and experts, and a long-overdue reckoning with race and racism/ sexism
— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) July 28, 2020
The Discovery Channel is one of the most influential sources of informal science education in the United States, attracting millions of viewers. Shark Week is marine biology's biggest platform. What they say, and who they have say it, matters.
— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) July 28, 2020
Re: diversity and "representation matters," in Shark Week 2020's promo materials for 24 (!!) specials this year, not a single woman's name is included. The @ElasmoSociety , the world's largest professional society of shark researchers, is 60%+ women.
— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) July 28, 2020
Recommended
Re: diversity and "representation matters," more Shark Week shows take place in the Bahamas or South Africa than anywhere else. I can't remember the last time they featured a Black scientific expert, if ever.
— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) July 28, 2020
Re: diversity and "representation matters," the most frequent Shark Week host (often about half of all shows) is not an expert, regularly says obviously wrong things, and thinks its funny to troll scientists and have his "fans" harass them online. FWIW he is a white guy.
— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) July 28, 2020
The "Washington Football Team" changed their mascot before the Discovery channel addressed these longstanding, regularly criticized issues. Virginia took down Robert E Lee statues before Discovery addressed these longstanding, regularly criticized issues. Jeepers.
— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) July 28, 2020
And what about public trust in experts? Discovery obviously didn't cause the pandemic, but a culture of pseudoscientific nonsense and distrust in experts that they've long promoted certainly didn't help matters. (see again, millions of viewers)
— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) July 28, 2020
Ditto re: Shark Week's longstanding "experts believe this due to overwhelming evidence, but this random guy with no experience education or credentials thinks they're wrong, and we're going to potray him as the hero" nonsense
— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) July 28, 2020
Shark Week's refusal to do fact-checking of the statements they make about shark biology is annoying, this exact same behavior when done by others re: viral misinformation about COVID is deadly. Shark Week could model good behavior to their millions of fans, they choose not to
— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) July 28, 2020
Obviously it has a worse impact when people say "I don't personally believe masks help stop the spread of COVID" than when Shark Week hosts say "I personally believe sharks eat carbon dioxide to heal the planet despite no evidence" but it's the same anti-intellectual behavior.
— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) July 28, 2020
It's not elitist to say that complex technical problems require some degree of technical training, experts and expertise matter. The exact same anti-expert nonsense Shark Week does all the time is deadly when others do it re: pandemic response. They could model good behavior.
— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) July 28, 2020
Discovery/Shark Week execs live in the same world we do. They know this stuff is a problem. They repeatedly choose not to fix their (small but not zero) contribution to that problem. They could make a different choice, at any time.
— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) July 28, 2020
I don't think it's unreasonable to ask one of the world's largest non-fiction education TV networks to model good behavior re: belief in science and experts that would save lives in the real world crisis we're all stuck in.
— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) July 28, 2020
Is this the end of the world? No, but it's not insignificant.
And that's why nonsense they've been doing for years bothers me more now than it usually does.
— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) July 28, 2020
(And even without parallels to COVID, Shark Week isn’t just a marine biology issue. It’s one of the largest public science education platforms in the world. It’s a science-wide issue.)
— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) July 28, 2020
Question: does popular media like Shark Week reflect existing cultural norms, or contribute to the creation of new cultural norms?
Answer: Yes.
— Dr. David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) July 28, 2020
And there you have it. Discovery Channel, you’re on notice!
***
Join the conversation as a VIP Member