Precaution or Stigma?: Older Adults in the Turkish National Press During COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has led to an increase in stigmatizing and discriminatory discourses against older individuals in the community. Explaining that older adults are the highest risk group, labeling individuals based on chronological age instead of personal characteristics, restrictive measures taken, and the way these measures are framed and presented in mass media resources for these individuals reinforced negative stereotypes such as “illness,” “mental decline,” “uselessness,” “isolation,” and “poverty.” In this chapter, news media, as one of the sources leading to the circulation of negative messages about individuals of older age, is reviewed; stigmatizing and discriminatory statements and applications upon the appearance of older adults in Turkey in the national press (Sozcu, Hurriyet, and Sabah newspapers) are discussed, and solution have been made.