"What would happen if kids or adults drew a shark scientist after watching Shark Week this year?" says Andy Dehnart. "I’m wondering because, when Discovery Channel released its Shark Week 2020 schedule, every single scientist and researcher mentioned by name was a white man. National Geographic’s Sharkfest, which spans two networks and five weeks, was not much better. In its announcement of 12 specials, it named eight experts, six of whom were white men. When I asked both networks about their lack of diversity, both provided me with information about additional women and people of color featured, which we’ll explore below. And both networks cited a lack of diversity in marine biology as a reason why their shows mostly featured white, male, on-camera experts." Jasmin Graham, a marine biologist who co-founded Minorities in Shark Science, tells Dehnart: "I think that argument is tired. And a lot of people use that argument for everything. To say that there aren’t women in shark science is utterly ridiculous."
TOPICS: Shark Week, Diversity, SharkFest