Age discursive practices in electronic media news

Abstract

The purpose of the investigation is to identify discriminatory gerontophobic practices in the news of electronic media and to illustrate the multi-vector discursive field of ageism. The content analysis allowed to establish the specifics of gerontological ageism, in particular its institutional nature, the presence of open and latent forms, which contributes to the spread of gerontophobia. This occurs as a result of age exclusion – the process of alienation from social and economic life, reduction of social roles through the use of such discriminatory practices as biomedicalization, marginalization, invisibilization, infantilization, dehumanization, trivialization, patronage. Among these practices are traditional, deep into antiquity, and operational, adjusted to modern realities. The media disseminate what is in society, and hence, determine what attitude to old age is cultivated in the mass consciousness.