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Media representations of ageing play a role in stereotype formation and even reinforce them. Encountering these stereotypes can negatively impact the self-esteem, health status, physical wellbeing and cognitive performance of older people.
This international collection examines different dimensions of ageing and ageism in a range of media. Chapters include explorations of the UK media during the COVID-19 pandemic; age, gender and mental health in Ghana; advertising in Brazil; magazines in Canada; Taiwanese newspapers; comics, graphic novels and more.
Bringing together leading scholars, this book critically considers differences in media portrayals and how older adults use and interact with the media.
This chapter provides an overview of the book. It introduces the central themes and foci of the collection and provides synopses of the chapters that follow.
This chapter examines the representation of older adults in UK news media during the first four months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The data come from the news sections of a range of UK newspapers. The articles are examined thematically, complemented by critical discourse analysis, focusing on referring expressions and discursive strategies used to represent older adults in the texts and headlines. The texts promote a largely one-dimensional view of older adults as vulnerable, powerless victims. On the other hand, certain old individuals are depicted as heroes in their charitable ventures. The news value stems from the advanced old age of such protagonists defying expectations, as embodiments of war-time nostalgia, yet also as targets of ‘benevolent ageism’. Both kinds of texts display ‘othering’ and contribute to the under-representation of older adults in news texts.
This chapter brings together the main themes discussed in the preceding chapters. It addresses the challenges of representing ageing in media contexts and the role of the media in addressing ageism in a global context.
This collection showcases leading research across the globe on ageing and the media. It examines different aspects and dimensions of ageing, as represented in a range of media, such as newspapers, magazines, advertising, graphic novels and comics, and websites. Older consumers’ voices are also heard about how they respond to media depictions of older adults and about how they embrace communication technologies. The chapters critically discuss current discourses and understandings of ageing and the lifecourse in different cultural contexts and demonstrate how age intersects with gender and sexuality, for example. The research sites range from Europe to North and South America, Africa and East Asia. Some of the central themes that are addressed in eleven chapters are: How do older adults feature and how are they represented in the media in different cultural contexts? What visual, semiotic and discursive strategies are employed in these representations? How do particular cultural and demographic contexts structure and give meaning to ageing in media texts and images? What is the role of older adults in the mediascape? How do older adults relate to media representations of ageing and older age? The volume is divided into three parts: (1) Framing and constructing ageing in media reporting; (2) Imagined ageing in promotional and fictional contexts; and (3) Older adults’ interaction with the media and media technologies
This collection showcases leading research across the globe on ageing and the media. It examines different aspects and dimensions of ageing, as represented in a range of media, such as newspapers, magazines, advertising, graphic novels and comics, and websites. Older consumers’ voices are also heard about how they respond to media depictions of older adults and about how they embrace communication technologies. The chapters critically discuss current discourses and understandings of ageing and the lifecourse in different cultural contexts and demonstrate how age intersects with gender and sexuality, for example. The research sites range from Europe to North and South America, Africa and East Asia. Some of the central themes that are addressed in eleven chapters are: How do older adults feature and how are they represented in the media in different cultural contexts? What visual, semiotic and discursive strategies are employed in these representations? How do particular cultural and demographic contexts structure and give meaning to ageing in media texts and images? What is the role of older adults in the mediascape? How do older adults relate to media representations of ageing and older age? The volume is divided into three parts: (1) Framing and constructing ageing in media reporting; (2) Imagined ageing in promotional and fictional contexts; and (3) Older adults’ interaction with the media and media technologies
This collection showcases leading research across the globe on ageing and the media. It examines different aspects and dimensions of ageing, as represented in a range of media, such as newspapers, magazines, advertising, graphic novels and comics, and websites. Older consumers’ voices are also heard about how they respond to media depictions of older adults and about how they embrace communication technologies. The chapters critically discuss current discourses and understandings of ageing and the lifecourse in different cultural contexts and demonstrate how age intersects with gender and sexuality, for example. The research sites range from Europe to North and South America, Africa and East Asia. Some of the central themes that are addressed in eleven chapters are: How do older adults feature and how are they represented in the media in different cultural contexts? What visual, semiotic and discursive strategies are employed in these representations? How do particular cultural and demographic contexts structure and give meaning to ageing in media texts and images? What is the role of older adults in the mediascape? How do older adults relate to media representations of ageing and older age? The volume is divided into three parts: (1) Framing and constructing ageing in media reporting; (2) Imagined ageing in promotional and fictional contexts; and (3) Older adults’ interaction with the media and media technologies
The visualisation of older people as a group in the media can play a role in stereotype formation and reinforce stereotypes. It can even negatively impact older people’s self-esteem, health status, physical wellbeing and cognitive performance. Although empirical studies have been conducted on such visual representation, only a limited number of studies have focused on the way public organisations visually represent older people in their digital communications. This chapter therefore first presents and discusses insights from the field of the visual representation of older people and the concept of ‘visual ageism’ – ‘the social practice of visually under-representing older people or misrepresenting them in a prejudiced way’ (Loos and Ivan, 2018, p 164). Then, a semiotic approach will be used to analyse how public organisations across a range of European countries use pictures about relevant products and services and represent older people on their websites. Finally, conclusions, limitations of the research and implications for future research will be presented.
