Surfer attacked by shark rides wave of media frenzy

THERE’s talk of a reality show and a clothing line, speaking appearances and a book — a lot of attention for a 13-year-old girl who has never recorded a song or rehearsed a script.

Bethany Hamilton was known for her surfing skills on Kauai’s North Shore, but now tragedy has made her one of the most in-demand teenagers in the national media.

On October 31, while she was on her surf board just offshore, a shark attacked her, biting off her left arm. Fellow surfers got her to shore with a surf leash as a tourniquet.

Hamilton made her national debut with a series of interviews last week. In one of the first, she told The Associated Press she will surf again despite her loss. “I can’t change it,” she said. “That was God’s plan for my life and I’m going to go with it.”

She’s off to a busy start.

Her TV debut came on Friday, when she appeared on “Good Morning America,” “20/20” and “Inside Edition.” More is to follow: appearances with talk show hosts Jay Leno, David Letterman and Geraldo Rivera, not to mention stories expected in newspapers and magazines.

Her father, Tom, appeared on NBC’s “Today” last week and received a call from his interviewer, Matt Lauer, later that day.

“He said, ‘You know, your daughter’s the most sought after teenager in the world. She’s even surpassed Jessica Lynch.”

Hamilton is the latest victim of tragedy to grab the spotlight, a place that’s been occupied by everyone from Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan, clubbed on the knee in a plot linked to rival Tonya Harding, to Aron Ralston, the hiker who cut off his own arm after it was pinned beneath a boulder.

Unlike victims whose fame is fleeting, Hamilton’s manager, Roy Hofstetter, believes her ordeal will have a lasting impact. “What I’m trying to do is make this 15 minutes of fame into Brand Bethany Hamilton.”

He said he’s also in talks for movies, books, a reality show, a clothing line and a speaking tour. “This is a really amazing story that will last many years,” Hofstetter said.

Others aren’t so sure.

After CBS’s “48 Hours Investigates” dropped out of the competition for an interview with Hamilton, the show’s executive producer, Susan Zirinsky, said she wasn’t too worried.

“These stories are like buses,” she told the New York Post, “You try to catch them, and if one passes you by and you don’t make it, there’s always another.”

Sally Stewart, a former reporter and author of a guide to dealing with the press, said “many people caught in tragedies don’t make a penny.”

“The biggest beneficiaries,” said Stewart, “are the media themselves.”