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This analysis explores how the media portrays different age groups and whether it is fair and unbiased. It examines the representation of children, adolescents/young people, and older people, highlighting stereotypes and potential harm in these portrayals.
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Consider…. • Is the media ageist? • Does it represent all age groups fairly? • Does it represent certain age groups in a biased manner? • Are some groups represented more favourably than others?
How does the media represent children? • Most representations of children are positive. • Evidence? • The following stereotypes are commonly used by the media in relation to children: • Victims of horrendous crimes (news coverage of Maddy McCann) • Cute (adverts for baby products, eg toilet rolls, nappies) • Little devils (rogues like Bart Simpson) • Brilliant (movies like Sixth Sense) • Brave angels (films or docs about illness) • Accessories (make Posh etc seem human) • Modern (childhood knowledge today vs in the past)
Children are often featured in ads to make a product appeal to other children. • Ads are very powerful & kids are now active consumers due to the way the media has manipulated them to make products ‘must haves’ • Evans & Chandler refer to this media use as resulting in ‘pester power’.
How does the media represent adolescents/young people? • There now is a whole media industry aimed at socially constructing youth in terms of lifestyle & identity. • Evidence includes the following: • Mags specifically for young people • Networking sites on the internet allow young people to project their identities around the world • Radio stations, record companies deliberately target young people & try to shape their tastes, consumer habits & identities. * Is there any real harm in this aspect of media representation of young people?
Young people are often portrayed by the news as being a social problem. • Evidence? • This type of media coverage is in line with Cohen’s theory that the media creates ‘moral panics’ by the way it presents particular stories. • The main moral panics since the 1950s have centred around young people’s behaviour. • Examples include teddy boys, hoodies, drug taking, binge drinking. • These types of stories attract disapproval form wider society.
Wayne’s research on negative portrayal of youth • Agrees that the overwhelming media portrayal of young people is negative. • Analysed 2,130 news items during May 2006 & found 286 focused specifically on young people; 82% of these stories focused on young people as either the perpetrators or victims of violent crime (Stephen Lawrence case, stabbings). • What image does this present about young people to wider society? That they are involved in violent in some way. • Common media stories at present focus on Britain’s ‘knife culture’ which exists among the youth. • Wayne et al believe the media only delivers a one-dimensional picture of youth, one that encourages fear & condemnation – rather than understanding. • This media approach distracts from the real problems young people face, such as unemployment, mental health etc.
Media portrayal of older people (the elderly) • Old age is devalued by the media industry. • Evidence? • Advertising tends to focus on beauty products geared towards anti-ageing, dentures. Such products aim at slowing down the whole ageing process/making you look young or hiding it altogether. • News programmes tend to feature older men, coupled with younger women. This sends out the message that older men are full of authority & wisdom, whereas older female newsreaders end up on the radio! Does their face not fit? • In the movie industry there are plenty of older lead males (Clint Eastwood, Sean Connery), yet there are very few lead older females. Helen Mirren is an exception. • The above evidence seems to indicate to us that gender also impacts on the way age is presented.
One of the most common stereotypes of older people is that they are grumpy busybodies who don’t like change. • Examples include Blanche & Norris from Coronation St, Edna from Emmerdale, Victor from One Foot in the Grave. • The message being sent by the media is that they’re a nuisance & have little to offer to society
Age Concern have argued the elderly are under-represented in the media. • Evidence? • In 2000, 21% of the population was 65 plus, yet only 7% of news representations were of that age group. • Further evidence in the fact that gender overlaps with the way age is represented is due to the fact that 70% of older people media representations featured males – yet they only made up 43% of this age group. • Older males over-represented.
