Ageism in COVID-19-Related Media Coverage: Examining Publications During the First Month of the Pandemic

The media has consistently described older adults as the population most vulnerable to COVID-19. Anti-ageism critics have taken issue with the oft-repeated statement that “only” older adults are at risk, a construction that dismisses and devalues the nuances within this population. The purpose of this study was to analyze instances of ageism in national media sources during the first month of the COVID-19 pandemic. A systematic search returned 287 articles concerning older adults and COVID-19 published in four major newspapers in the United States—USA Today, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post—between March 11 and April 10, 2020. Combining the strengths of content analysis and critical discourse analysis, we deductively and inductively reviewed the articles for patterns related to implicit and explicit forms of ageism. While ageism was rarely discussed explicitly, ageist bias was evident in implicit reporting patterns, such as frequent use of the phrase the elderly, which was often paired with statements describing older adults as vulnerable. Infection and death rates among older adults, as well as institutionalized care practices, were among the most commonly reported topics, providing a limited portrait of aging during the pandemic. While some authors utilized a survivor narrative by portraying older adults as having survived hardships, this construction implicitly places blame on those unable to do so. Older adults, when quoted directly, produced more complex and nuanced narratives of aging during the COVID-19 pandemic. Such narratives can combat societal ageism and promote self-determination and -definition.

Islands in the Screen: The Robinsonnade as Television Genre

The island survivor narrative, or robinsonnade, has emerged as a small but significant television genre over the past 50 years. The author considers its origins as a literary genre and the screen adaptations that followed. Emphasis is placed on how “island TV” employed a television aesthetic that ranged from an earlier conventional approach, using three cameras, studio locations, and narrative resolution in each episode, to open-ended storylines employing a cinematic style that exploits the new generation of widescreen televisions, especially with the advent of HDTV. Two case studies centre the argument: Gilligan’s Island as an example of the former, more conventional aesthetic, and Lost as an example of the new approach. Although both series became exceedingly popular, other notable programs are considered, two of which involved Canadian production teams: Swiss Family Robinson and The Mysterious Island. Finally, connections are drawn between robinsonnades and the emerging post-apocalyptic genre as it has moved from cinema to television.