Sunday, May 4, 2008

When Headlines ... Mislead?

I've gone though this story 3 times and there's only one small reference to global warming among a list of about a half a dozen reasons for shark attacks. But the reporter or the editor knows most folk will just read the headline or ... the headline will drive folks to the story. Stupid.

"The one thing that's affecting shark attacks more than anything else is human activity,' said Dr George Burgess of Florida University, a shark expert who maintains the database. 'As the population continues to rise, so does the number of people in the water for recreation. And as long as we have an increase in human hours in the water, we will have an increase in shark bites ... another contributory factor to the location of shark attacks could be global warming and rising sea temperatures."