Representing Life and Death in Care Institutions: Between Invisible Victims and Suffering Old Women

Shari Adlung and Annabella Backes
Additional contact information
Shari Adlung: Institute for Media and Communication Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
Annabella Backes: Collaborative Research Center Affective Societies, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

Media and Communication, 2023, vol. 11, issue 1, 163-172

Abstract: The article examines the representation and (in)visibility of ageing people in German care institutions during the Covid-19 pandemic. Within the framework of a qualitative content-analytical and discourse-analytical study of 185 articles, including 108 images from German newspapers, the authors trace the patterns behind the representation of ageing people. In so doing, they argue that in the media discourse ageing people are often represented without agency and in a strongly homogenised way as “others.” By emphasising pre-existing conditions and vulnerability, older and disabled people appear naturally at risk. The article also problematises the mere counting of life and death in care institutions, which contributes to a naturalisation and symbolic annihilation of the death of ageing people. Furthermore, the authors identify the notion of the suffering old woman as a key figure in pandemic media discourse, performing a critical function. She embodies an appeal to society to show sympathy and solidarity and to act reasonably with respect to the pandemic measures yet contains no elements of discursive agency or personal characteristics beyond that. Additionally, the suffering old woman reinforces traditional patterns of patriarchal representation. The authors conclude that the pandemic has placed the German care crisis in settings of institutionalised geriatric care into the media spotlight. However, the comprehensive inclusion of ageing people has been absent. Emphasising one’s own ability and thus adapting to the midlife years seems to be the only way to precarious inclusion for ageing people in the discourse.

Keywords: ageing; agency; Covid-19; German newspapers; institutionalised care; media representation; vulnerability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/6056 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:meanco:v11:y:2023:i:1:p:163-172

DOI: 10.17645/mac.v11i1.6056

Access Statistics for this article

Media and Communication is currently edited by Raquel Silva

More articles in Media and Communication from Cogitatio Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by António Vieira () and IT Department ().