Being on the Cover of TIME — Three Times
Being on the cover of our magazine is kind of a big deal. Throughout the years, TIME has run not one, but three covers with sharks on them. The first came the summer of 1975 — the year Steven Spielberg's Jaws was released. On the cover is an illustration of Spielberg's 24-ft.-long, thankfully fictional, great white shark. Next up was a cover from August 1997 that read: "SHARKS: We're killing them — and lots of other fish — much faster than they can reproduce. Are they doomed to extinction?" The story sought to downplay the perceived danger of sharks and argued instead for their protection. The final — although maybe not the final — shark-filled cover on July 30, 2001, read: "Summer of the Shark." This issue featured "Why Can't We Be Friends?" — a story that highlighted recent attacks in Alabama, Florida and New York, examined how sharks hunt and where they roam, and offered tips on how to stay out of their way. (Clearly, it was a slow-news kind of summer.) Still, the trio of covers is a victory for the species, which boasts more TIME covers than any other, except, of course, for man's best friend.