Abstract
As populations continue to grow older, efforts to support the process of aging well are important goals. Various synonyms are used to cover aging well, such as active aging. The World Health Organization published in 2002 the report Active Ageing: A Policy Framework that according to the call for papers, has brought active ageing to the forefront of international public health awareness. The 2010 Toronto Charter for Physical Activity: A Global Call for Action was singled out in the call for papers as a key document promoting physical activity one goal of the 2002 WHO active aging policy framework. Media are to report to the public topics of importance to them. We investigated the newspaper coverage of aging well and synonymous terms such as active aging through the lens of the 2002 WHO active aging policy framework and the 2010 Toronto Charter for Physical Activity. As sources we used the following newspapers: China Daily, The Star (Malaysia), two UK newspapers (The Guardian, The Times), a database of 300 Canadian newspapers (Canadian Newsstand) and a US newspaper (The New York Times). The study generated data answering the following four research questions: (1) how often are the 2002 WHO active aging policy framework and the 2010 Toronto Charter for Physical Activity mentioned; (2) how often is the topic of active aging and terms conveying similar content (aging well, healthy aging, natural aging and successful aging) discussed; (3) which of the issues flagged as important in the 2002 WHO active aging policy framework and the 2010 Toronto Charter for Physical Activity are covered in the newspaper coverage of active aging and synonymous terms; (4) which social groups were mentioned in the newspapers covered. The study found a total absence of mentioning of the two key documents and a low level of coverage of “active aging” and terms conveying similar content. It found further a lack of engagement with the issues raised in the two key documents and a low level of mentioning of socially disadvantages groups. We posit that reading the newspapers we covered will not expose the reader to the two key documents and the issues linked to aging well including the need to increase physical activity.
Highlights
IntroductionAccording to the 2001 United Nations Report World Population Ageing 1950–2050, the number of older persons in the World will exceed the number of young persons in 2050 for the first time in history and that the reversal in relative proportions of young and old is already a reality since 1998 in the more developed regions [1]
Charter for Physical Activity were mentioned in newspapers we searched the full text of all articles of Canadian Newsstand (n = 300 Canadian newspapers), the China Daily, The Star (Malaysia, national reach), The Guardian (UK, national reach) and The Times (UK, national reach) for the names of the two key documents
In short we found that most themes and issues raised in the WHO Policy framework for active ageing and in the Toronto Charter for Physical Activity were not even mentioned once (see Supplementary Material for full quantitative results, Tables S1 and S2, and for full list of codes)
Summary
According to the 2001 United Nations Report World Population Ageing 1950–2050, the number of older persons in the World will exceed the number of young persons in 2050 for the first time in history and that the reversal in relative proportions of young and old is already a reality since 1998 in the more developed regions [1]. The proportion of older persons was 8% in 1950, 10% in 2000, 11% in 2012 and is projected to reach 22% or 2 billion people by 2050 [1,2]. Within the older population, the proportion of people aged 80 years will increase from 14% in 2012 to 20% in. The report World Population Ageing 1950–2050 argues that population aging impacts “intergenerational and intragenerational equity and solidarity that are the foundations of society”,.
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