Older People in the Media

Introduction:

Older persons are shown in the media in many different ways. Some of the portrayals are truly characteristic while others are more stereotypical. For this reason, we should think carefully about how we look at older people in our society.

This activity will allow the class to understand some of the issues facing older persons and to discover that there are many stereotypes of older persons that are not accurate.

Objectives:

• to understand that the media can show older people in many different lights;
• to realize that there are stereotypes of older people that are not necessarily accurate.

Suggested time: To take place over one month.

Materials:

1. Newspapers or magazines that students have at home (or newspaper subscription for the class or school library).
1. Photocopy of the Questions.

Evaluation based upon:

• creativity of journal;
• content/writing of journal; and
• ability to categorize newspaper/magazine articles.

Set up:

Ask the students to read a newspaper or magazines from home and cut out articles related to or about older persons, over a specific period of time. * Perhaps the class or school library could have a newspaper subscription during this time.

Ask the students to categorize their clippings and organize them (this could be done in a journal). The students should write a brief description for each category they created for their journals. They should also write a one to two page report about what they learned about older people during the assignment. They following Questions can be used:

Questions:

1. What is the article about? In what category have you placed it? Why?
1. Did you enjoy reading it?
2. Did you find the subject interesting? If so, why?
3. How does it portray its subject? How does it portray older persons in general?
4. Do you think this article is a fair portrayal? Why or why not?
5. What are some of the stereotypes of older persons?
6. Do you think this article is stereotypical? Why or why not?

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