The Social Construction of Age: Media Stigmatization of Older Adults: A Systematic Review

This systematic review analyzes the representation of older adults in the media to determine whether news coverage contributes to reinforcing or combating ageism. For societies undergoing population ageing, it is essential to understand the image of old age conveyed by the media, as they play a significant role in shaping public perception. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA 2020) guidelines were followed. In total, 21 articles addressing the media representation of old age were selected from 1435 search results across three databases: Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed. The results show that the media do not sufficiently make older adults visible, often present negative narratives about old age, and use stigmatizing terms to refer to this group. Most of the research comes from the field of sociology, mainly employs discourse analysis, and does not examine journalistic aspects such as genres, information sources, or the images accompanying news stories. In conclusion, the reviewed literature provides a valuable diagnosis of media ageism but highlights the need to broaden the disciplinary perspective and incorporate analyses and proposals aimed at transforming journalistic routines, in order to move toward a more plural, realistic, and stigma-free representation of older adults in the media.