Media Portrayal of Older Adults Across Five Canadian Disasters.

Samantha A. Oostlander,Olivier Champagne-Poirier,Tracey L. O’Sullivan

doi:10.1177/00914150211024173

Samantha A. Oostlander, Olivier Champagne-Poirier

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1177/00914150211024173

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Abstract

We conducted a constructivist grounded theory approach in which discourse analysis was used to explore how Canadian news media portrays older adults and aging in a disaster context. We analyzed 119 articles covering five Canadian disasters and identified four themes: (a) stereotypes of older adults are presented on a positive–negative continuum in journalistic coverage of disasters, (b) journalistic coverage tends to exclude perspectives of older adults from relevant discourse, (c) journalists assess the value of losses for older adults—“home” as a central concept, and (d) disasters are framed as disrupting retirement ideals. A model was created to provide an overview of the journalistic coverage of older adults in disaster contexts. Understanding how old age and aging are presented by the media in a disaster context is important because it has further implications for informing and structuring disaster risk reduction policies.

Highlights

Disasters are becoming more frequent and severe due to the negative impacts of climate change across the globe (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction [UNDRR], 2015)
We present a constructivist grounded theory approach in which a discourse analysis was conducted on news media coverage of five Canadian disasters: 2013 Alberta floods, 2016 Fort McMurray Wildfires, 2017 and 2019 Ottawa-Gatineau floods, and the 2018 Ottawa-G atineau tornados
Upon completion of our analysis, we identified four themes and created one model to provide an overview of the journalistic coverage of older adults in disaster contexts

Summary

Introduction

Disasters are becoming more frequent and severe due to the negative impacts of climate change across the globe (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction [UNDRR], 2015). Media coverage of disasters can influence the social construction of resilience and vulnerability, which can further influence disaster risk reduction (DRR) practices (Vasterman et al, 2005). This is relevant with regard to high-risk populations—those who are at an increased risk of experiencing the negative impacts of a disaster due to the intersection of the social determinants of health (O’Sullivan & Bourgoin, 2010). Research examining the media portrayal of older adults often focuses on age- related health conditions and comparison of older adults to other age demographics (Fraser et al, 2016; Rozanova et al, 2006). Researchers have identified under-representation and negative stereotyping as the two main issues in the media portrayal of older adults (O’Reilly, 1998; Vasil & Wass, 1993)

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