The elderly and the media

1. The elderly and the media

2. The elderly as a group • Treated as a minority in US, western world • Only minority that the ‘majority’ are likely to become members of • Media have been said to ignore seniors, treat them with disdain

3. Longevity Revolution • Increasing life expectancy • Decreasing birth rate • Baby boomer generation • Countervailing force: immigration • Overall: Aging of the population • Significant social and economic change as a result

4. Myths of Aging – Spurious Correlations • The topic of aging is durably encapsulated in a layer of myths in our society. And, like most myths, the ones about aging include a confusing blend of truth and fancy. We have compressed a few of the most familiar of the aging myths into single sentence assertions – frequently heard, usually with some link to reality, but always (thankfully) in significant conflict with recent scientific data.

5. Myth #1: You get old; you get sick • Myth #2: You get old; you lose interest in intimacy • Myth #3: You get old; you are unwilling to try anything new • Myth #4: You get old; you lose control of bodily functions • Myth #5: You get old; you can’t function in the work place • Myth #6: You get old; you can’t understand technology

6. Myth #7: You get old; you have no social life • Myth #8: You get old; you cannot fully participate or pull you own weight • Myth #9: You get old; you need help to make decisions

7. Population • Fifty-plus adults now comprise 38 percent of the U.S. population and this number jumps to 47 percent by 2020. (Census Bureau) • Fifty-plus adults account for approximately 80 percent of personal wealth in U.S. banks and financial institutions, and have 50 percent of all discretionary income. (Age Wave Report, 2001) • Approximately 6,000 Americans each day celebrate their 65th birthday. (Selling to Seniors, 2001) • A person who turned 65 in 1998 can expect to live an additional 17.8 years. (Research Alert, 2001)

8. An analysis by the U.S. Bureau of Labor says 17.5 percent of men 65-plus were still in the workforce in 2000 (up from 16.4 percent in 1990), as were 9.4 percent of women 65 plus (up from 8.7 percent in 1990). • Median household net worth in 1999, according to age of household head: 55-64, $145,000; 65-74, $190,000; 75 plus, $132,900. (Administration on Aging, 2001) • Fifty-plus adults own almost 50 percent of the credit cards in the U.S. (Age Wave Report, 2001)

9. Distribution of sources of income for Americans 65-plus based on a study in 2000 by the Employee Benefit Research Institute: Social Security, 41 percent; earnings from work, 20 percent; asset income, 18 percent; pensions and annuities, 19 percent; other, 2 percent. • Percentage who owned their own homes in 1999: 50-54, 77.8 percent; 55-59, 80.7 percent; • 60-64, 81.3 percent.

15. Spending Fifty-plus adults buy 41 percent of all new cars, and 48 percent of all luxury automobiles. Consumers in the 60-69 age bracket have more than doubled their new-vehicle purchases since the early 1970s. (Age Wave Report, 2001) • Today’s 50-plus adults represent 80 percent of all luxury travel, and spend 74 percent more on a typical vacation than 18-49-year-olds. According to an Age Wave report in 2001, they spend 40 percent more time vacationing in their 50s than they did in their 40s.

32. Portrayal of the elderly on television • Elderly are greatly underrepresented on television • Often shown as feeble, in need of care by younger people • Situation has improved somewhat, though • Early 1990s saw increase in programming targeting elderly • Murder She Wrote, Matlock, Golden Girls, Jake and the Fat Man, In the Heat of the Night • Seems to have declined as older-skewing shows have been canceled with equivalent or larger audiences compared to younger-skewing shows

33. Portrayal of the elderly on television • Elderly women treated more negatively than men • Older men paired with younger women is considered more acceptable than older women paired with younger men

34. Economic imperative • Advertisers are most interested in younger audiences • Less income per show when audience is dominated by elderly/aged • TV shows that draw from older audience dropped even if their numbers are better than younger-skewing shows • New networks have successively gone for younger audiences

35. Trends in the Portrayal of the Elderly Greenberg, Bradley S., Korzenny, Felipe, and Atkin, Charles K. (1980) Ch. 3 in Life on Television

36. Three season distribution of character ages

37. Program time by Age of TV character for two seasons

38. Major program types by age of TV characters

39. Selected attributes of characters by age

40. Prosocial behavior

41. Target of prosocial behavior

42. Antisocial behavior

43. Target of antisocial behavior

44. Summary • “The portrayal of the elderly as fictional television characters, during the 1975-76 and 1976-77 seasons, had these primary attributes: • . . . A very small number of characters in the 65-and-over group, averaging about 3 percent of all characters, with no trend of increase; • . . . An increasing distribution of older characters into Saturday morning and late evening programs; • . . . A disproportionately high placement of older characters in situation comedies; • . . . A distinctly male bias in portrayal of the elderly;

45. . . . Increased casting into regular, rather than guest roles; • . . . Increasing representation of the elderly in lower-class portrayals; • . . . The giving and getting of acts of altruism and affection at rates equivalent to other age groups; • . . . The commission of acts of physical aggression at lower rates, while equally likely to be the targets of such acts, • . . . The commission of acts of verbal aggression at higher rates than other age groups.”

46. The invisible generation: Portrayals of the elderly on prime-time television • Robinson, James D. and Skill, Thomas, Communication Reports, 8(2) 111-120, Summer 1995. • Content analysis of primetime, 1990 season.

47. Age distribution of speaking characters by gender, 1990 primetime television season (%)

48. Comparison of character age among males, 1975 and 1990 primetime television seasons (%)

49. Age distribution of female characters, primetime TV 1975 and 1990 (%)

50. Major v. minor roles by character age, primetime TV, 1990