This study aims to explore how the media as social infrastructure discursively represents older people’s contributions to community and place in Aotearoa New Zealand.
A discourse analysis of national, regional, and local/community print-news media between 2000 and 2024.
Most coverage represented older people as passive and dependent. Only a small amount highlighted older people’s active contributions. In those that did, other people frequently spoke on behalf of older people. Most reporting on older people’s contributions was focused on formal, organised areas such as volunteering, workforce participation and activism.
Media as social infrastructure perpetuates stereotypes and representations of ageing, influencing how older people see themselves and limiting how others view them. This highlights the need to recognise, value and enable older people’s participation and contributions.
