The Older Persons Council of Biscay (Spain) launches a new observatory to monitor ageism in the media

The Older Persons Council of Biscay (Spain) launches a new observatory to monitor ageism in the media

Often, the Basque media collects news and content with stereotyped images of older persons, contributing to create a social imaginary that does not conform to reality. For this purpose, the Older Persons Council of the Government of Biscay (Spain), has launched an observatory monitoring ageism in the media.

The objective of this observatory is to identify the stereotyped contents about the elderly people that are disseminated in the Basque media, and to develop a critical view of them. Older persons themselves, as well as media professionals, will get involved in this initiative.

The ageist stereotypes will be tracked thanks to computer tools that will monitor the media. A team composed of older persons themselves as well as media professionals and academics from the Communication department of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Deusto will analyse the stereotypes collected and compile them into monthly short videos. Anyone spotting ageism in the Basque media can contact the project team at: komunikazioa@gizadiberri.eus

Antennas and media titles will also be invited to participate in a training about ageism. The format is still to be specified.

The initiative will run from September to December 2018. All results will be gathered into a comprehensive report drawing some general conclusions and proposing appropriate solutions at the end of the project. The observatory will announce the results of the research through a conference that will be held in early 2019 at the University of Deusto.

 

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