The St. Petersburg Times article, “Sharks: Myth vs. reality” is a solid example of responsible reporting when it comes to dealing with the subject of sharks. The article touches the threats of over-fishing on sharks, the odds of being attacked, and myths about shark attacks. Author Terry Tomalin manages to stick to the facts and avoid any unnecessary sensationalism, which often shows up in “news” articles involving sharks. While Tomalin is responsible enough not to ignore that sharks are predatory wild animals and can pose a risk to humans, he also is also objective enough to address the relatively low odds of the risk and dispel some of the myths about shark behavior. Kudos to Mr. Tomalin.

The full article is currently available online at TambaBay.com

Note: As of this writing, the article currently contains what appears to be a typo in the “By the numbers” section which states that the odds of a fatal shark attack on a human is 0 in 264.1 million. I’m assuming this statistic is meant to read 1 in 264.1 million.