Overview

Older people are stereotypically portrayed in the media at two extremes of a spectrum, either the healthy and happy retiree, or frail and sick older person in need of care. Older people living in residential long-term care are particularly portrayed in a homogenous way. Individuals exposed to stereotypical portrayals could develop a distorted view of the realities of older people and later life. The negative portrayals could harmfully influence older people’s self-esteem as well as younger people’s perceptions of ageing processes. This policy brief addresses the issue of ageism in media portrayals of older people and later life relating to residential long-term care. This brief calls for more authentic, balanced, diverse and thoughtful portrayals of older people in the media, as well as seeking accountability of content producers as a critical way of reducing the portrayals of older people that may lead to ageism. Policy measures are suggested for mitigating ageism in the process of generating media content (digital and print) about older people and later life relating to long-term care. Specifically, we recommend: include a heterogeneous long-term care ageing experience in media portrayals; reduce social stigmas surrounding residential long-term care; encourage education in ageism and construct new images of long-term care; provide training for media professionals working around residential long-term care; support providers of care to tackle the privacy issue of residents. These policy measures can be taken and tailored by media professionals and healthcare and long-term care professionals considering the given media, institutional and social contexts.