Shaping Perceptions: How Australian Media Covers Aging (2024)

overview

The focus of this report is on the way the Australian media covers aging and older people.

This research involved a review of literature and media reports on age-related issues by major media outlets in Australia. In-depth interviews were also conducted with journalists, presenters, editors and producers across all Australian media networks, as well as academics and corporate communications specialists.

This report summarizes key findings from the Australian Human Rights Commission and identifies three key opportunities for the media industry and the aging sector to take a collaborative partnership approach to improve the accuracy, quantity and quality of reporting on older Australians and the issues that affect them and for them are important to improve.

Read the full report here.

Read the summary here.

Key findings

This report highlights three key findings.

1. There are known and real problems with the portrayal of aging and older people in the Australian media.

These recurring themes are:

• the description of aging as a problem
• a dominant narrative of decline, frailty and vulnerability
• Generational conflict
• gender-specific ageism
• Invisibility of older Australians and their lived experiences

2. Australian media portrayals reflect a wider mainstream culture that underestimates older people.

3. Australian media representation is underpinned by specific drivers in the media industry, including:

• Lack of access to subject matter experts
• Time and resource constraints
• Loss of experienced and specialized practitioners in newsrooms
• Invisibility of age in the space of diversity and inclusion
• lack of consensus among academics
• Workplace tensions between older and younger journalists
• Business Drivers

Opportunities

The three opportunities identified in this report are a call to action for the media industry and the aging sector to proactively drive and accelerate change across the media landscape.

These opportunities exist for the media industry and the seniors sector to work together to:

• Close the expert gap: by improving media access to relevant speakers and subject matter experts.
• Close the education and training gap: by co-designing and providing resources and staff training to raise industry awareness of age discrimination and strengthen editorial standards in reporting on age-related issues.
• Change the narrative around aging: by collectively launching a communications campaign to combat ageism in both the media industry and the broader community.

Video: Commissioner Fitzgerald presents the “Shaping Perceptions” report

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