Discrimination: Compared with racism, ageism is under-reported in the media, according to research published last weekend.
Results of an analysis of articles in six national newspapers between 2000 and 2004 found there were almost 20 times more articles on racism than ageism.
Ageism is prejudice or discrimination on the grounds of age. The doctors searched the archives of newspapers, including The Irish Times, the Guardian and the Daily Telegraph for the words "ageism" and "racism".
Speaking at the annual scientific meeting of the Irish Gerontological Society in Limerick, Dr Sean Kennelly described how 2,085 articles on racism were found in The Irish Times compared with 61 on ageism; the Guardian had 6,252 stories on racism but just 301 referring to ageism.
"The results of this study demonstrate a significant under-reporting of ageism compared to other forms of discrimination, especially when considering the scale of the problem. These findings need to be directed to those involved in the education of journalists as well as media studies," said Dr Kennelly and her co-authors from the Department of Medical Gerontology at the Adelaide and Meath Hospital, Tallaght.
Doctors from the same department reported on a separate study into the media portrayal of older drivers. Concerned that a negative media portrayal may have contributed to what they termed "restrictive legislation against older drivers", Dr Alan Martin and his colleagues searched the electronic archives of 15 British and Irish national and regional newspapers for references to older drivers.
After excluding brief reports on fatal road traffic accidents, opinion/editorial articles were independently assessed by two doctors for bias. Fifteen stories were considered negative, seven were assessed as balanced and four were considered positive in their opinion of older drivers.
"Negative and inaccurate reporting of the experience of becoming old can in itself constitute ageism," Dr Martin said.
Prof Desmond O'Neill, professor of medical gerontology at Trinity College Dublin and consultant geriatrician at Tallaght Hospital, said: "Both these studies underline how hidden ageism affects society and could contribute to inequalities such as stopping Breastcheck [the national breast cancer screening programme] at 65, just when the risk of the disease takes off. I will be forwarding the results to schools of journalism and media studies as I believe a module on ageing studies would be worth including in journalism courses".