(In)visible and (Un)heard? Older Adults as Guests on COVID-Related Political Talk Shows in Germany

Abstract

Background and Objectives The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected older adults. Despite calls to include older people in societal decision-making, the extent to which older adults have participated in the pandemic-related public debate is unknown. This study investigated older adults’ (65+ years) voice and visibility as guests on political talk shows as an important arena of public debate. Specifically, we examined how often older adults appeared as guests, their characteristics, and how older versus younger guests discussed the pandemic. Research Design and Methods Judges assessed all guests’ age, gender, migration experience, functional aids, and professional background on all episodes of the four most-watched political talk shows in Germany between January 1 to December 31, 2020 (N=136 episodes, K=754 guests). We used an exploratory sequential mixed methods approach and frame analysis on all episodes featuring older guests (n=37), to first identify how guests discussed the pandemic, and then assess differences in positions between older and younger guests (<65 years). Results Older guests rarely appeared (12.2% of all guests, 9.6% of guests on COVID-related episodes) and if, they were majorly male, young-old, German-born professionals with no functional aids. Rather than appearing as ‘peer advocates’ of older adults, older guests framed the pandemic similarly to younger guests, with a tendency to more strongly address disproportionate restrictions of civil liberties in society. Discussion and Implications Results suggest that one prominent part of German media failed to represent the diverse voice of a population most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Differences between how older and younger guests discussed the pandemic may reflect their privileged background in addition to generational differences in attitudes toward government. Future research in other social fora and of other social groups of older adults might facilitate understanding how older adults shaped the public debate on the COVID-19 pandemic.

The faceless and vulnerable other – the visual portrayal of older people on German online news sites within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

“…The news stories in our sample centred on the entire older population, yet they primarily focused on negative features attributed to the fourth age. While older women and the oldest-old have been underrepresented in the media (Rozanova, 2010;Ylänne, 2015;Myrczik et al, 2022), our findings show that these groups do appear in the media, albeit in the context of vulnerability. We are aware that there is a 'universal ontology of human vulnerability' (Gilleard and Higgs, 2011: 135), wherein people of all ages are vulnerable and thus interdependent, and we, thus, need to be careful about potentially interpreting the dependency of older individuals as inherently negative.…”

“…The portrayal of older adults in the German media is in line with its Western counterparts: they are hardly visible, especially women and the oldest-old (Röhr-Sendlmeier and Ueing, 2004;Hoppe et al, 2016;Myrczik et al, 2022), while one-sided negative images (Ueltzhöffer, 1992;Femers, 2007;Wangler, 2013) are increasingly complemented by extraordinarily positive portrayals in advertisements and television (Kessler et al, 2004;Röhr-Sendlmeier and Ueing, 2004;Kessler et al, 2010;Wangler, 2012;Hoppe et al, 2016), even among those individuals experiencing dementia (Kessler and Schwender, 2012). The period between 1 January 2020 and 31 January 2021 was chosen for this study, to coincide with the beginnings of global coverage of the pandemic.…”

The beauty premium of politicians in office

“…Second, TV talk shows in the form of roundtable discussions are very popular and important arenas for political debate in Germany (Kessler and Lachenmaier, 2017;Myrczik et al, 2022). For instance, the most popular TV show "Anne Will" is regularly watched by up to 4 million individuals (Das Erste, 2020).…”