#SharkWeek pulls 35 million viewers each year, not counting its social reach. This is a massive platform that touts conservation and education as among it’s primary goals. Right now it’s programming choices don’t support these goals. [THREAD]

What #SharkWeek does well:
- create excitement for sharks
- build a community of fans
- leverage celebrities to bring new audiences
- introduce viewers to (some) cool #sharkscience

What #SharkWeek gets wrong:
- edited for faux drama
- fear-mongering narratives, music, tone
- same few sharks, same few faces
- conflating experience with expertise
- presents a narrow view of science and scientists
- shark attack programming

What’s missing from #SharkWeek:
- #diversesharks
- diverse #sharkscience
- diverse scientists and hosts
- accurate conservation narratives with opportunities for viewers to take action

There have been many good programs on #SharkWeek and #SharkFest over the years that could be models: Planet Shark, 700 Sharks, Alien Sharks, 50 Shades of Sharks, Tiger Shark Invasion, GW Shark Babies, even Ninja Sharks had its moments.

How we get there from here:
- diversify participation, science, species
- work with professional partners to strengthen conservation/sci: @ElasmoSociety, @zoos_aquariums, @MISS_Elasmo, @WWF_Sharks, others
- drop shark attack programming, faux drama, fear-mongering

What #SharkWeek viewers can do:
- Turn off programming that’s bad for sharks (or just gross). I won’t be watching ‘I was prey’ or the Tyson show.
- Tell @Discovery you want more diverse faces, more #DiverseSharks, more diverse science & that you’re interested in conservation.

I know many people/pros that have written #SharkWeek off. That’s too bad, but it’s hard to blame them. I keep thinking abt how the combo of the excitement of SharkWeek & the community of viewers could be a powerful force for conservation action, for both sharks and the ocean.