Objective
The objective of this project is to explore how Swedish municipalities construct the public image of older adults in the media and to enhance our understanding of how municipality rationalizes stereotyped media portrayal of older adults through communication practices.
Conceptual Framework
Media performs as a dominant constructor and diffuser of ageing stereotypes and a place where stereotypes are able to be replicated, and be both source and perpetrators. Older adults are statistically underrepresented in a variety of media. Media portray older people as an incompetent and in-adaptable group, using negative narratives and images. Those content potentially impacts older people’s health and well-being, as well as how people treat older adults.
Questions
- In what way do Swedish municipalities portray citizens at different life stages on Facebook?
- In what way do Swedish municipalities portray the life stage of adolescence on Facebook?
- How do Swedish municipalities rationalize stereotypes of older adults on Facebook through communication practices?
- To what extent do the differences exist in media representation of pensioners produced by Swedish municipalities in light of municipal features?
Materials & Method
This project will analyse photographs posted on municipalities’ social media and employ structured interviews and non-participatory observations to explore media production process.
Biography
- He is a media economist.
- MA in Journalism and Communication.
- He worked for United Nations Development Programme China office in 2017 & United Nations ESCAP in 2018.
- His research interests: ageing and media, media sociology, political communication.
Contact information
- Mobile: +46 (0) 700 8964 48
- Email: wenqian.xu@liu.se
- Twitter: @xu_wenqian
- Please visit us at www.euroageism.eu
