Media Framing of Older People During the Coronavirus Pandemic in Spain

Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic has affected fundamental aspects with ramifications on our coexistence, including the manner in which older people are perceived and how we interact with them. In this work, the researchers study how older people were represented by the media in the first year of the pandemic by analysing six of Spain's most widely read digital newspapers. To this end, the authors have studied whether journalists gave older people the means through which they, or their representative organizations, families, or healthcare workers could express themselves. Furthermore, the authors have also studied the imagery that readers have created of older people by analysing the readers comments section of news reports. A total of 1,278 textual units were obtained that include both journalistic pieces and readers comments. These units were processed qualitatively and quantitatively using categories of analysis pertaining to the imagery of older people, care homes, their health and quality of life, and critiques of actions taken by politicians. The conclusion drawn is that these newspapers did not adopt frames that adequately represent older people as individuals who are active and useful members of society, nor as a dynamic consumer group that activates the market and stimulates the economy.