Ministerial Advisory Committee on Ageing Media Awards

Adding life to years

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Summary

The inaugural Media Awards was developed by the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Ageing (MACA) in 2016 as an element of the New South Wales Ageing Strategy. The MACA Media Awards are designed to encourage members of the public to nominate articles, videos, advertisements or images that demonstrate that there is more to ageing than becoming old.This can include material that raises awareness and leads to broader understanding of ageing as a normal process, challenges negative stereotypes towards older people, highlights examples of balanced and realistic media reporting on older people and ageing, and most importantly, is a realistic portrayal of ageing.The following categories are open for nomination:• News• Current affairs• Health and lifestyle • Advertising • ImagesBy holding up media reports that demonstrate that there is more to ageing than becoming old, the Awards program aims to improve public perceptions of older people. The Awards also address the key concern areas of reducing ageism and elder abuse, improving intergenerational connectivity and reducing social isolation.All entries will be judged by panel of experts in the field of journalism and the media. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in October 2016 and the winning entries will be published on the MACA website to inspire change in the media.

Key facts

Main target group: Older people in general

Other target group(s): Civil society, journalists, other media personnel

Sector(s): Social protection

Desired outcome for older people:
Contribute

Other issues the Age-friendly practice aims to address:

Ageism
Inequities
Intergenerational activities

Other Issues: Perceptions of ageing - challenging stereotypes about age and ageing

Contact details

Name: Lawson, Meagan

Email address: Meagan.Lawson@facs.nsw.gov.au

Preferred language(s): English

Age-friendly practice in detail (click to expand):

Engaging the wider community

Project lead: Older People’s Association

Older people’s involvement: Older people were involved in the age-friendly practice at multiple or all stages

Details on older people’s involvement: MACA initiated the project and was supported by the secretariat in delivery. MACA continued to direct and develop project throughout implementation.

Moving forward

Has the impact of this age-friendly practice been analysed: Yes

Please share with us what you found in detail:
Research into representation of older people has shown that older people are under-represented in the media. The expected outcome is that rates of reporting will improve and the media will report in a balanced and representative manner.

Feedback:
Not yet.

Expansion plans:
The intention is to expand the awards over time, after reviewing the current process for the inaugural awards. The goal of the media awards is to continue to influence on issues around older people and ageing in a balanced and accurate manner.

Looking back

Reflections:
In order to ensure that the awards remain topical, it would have been beneficial to promote them over a longer period of time and to allow nominations throughout the year – this is something that will be implemented in future years. We would also like to build on the success of this year’s plan, and publicise more widely and more frequently, to ensure as many good examples as possible and found and highlighted.

Challenges:
Being the inaugural awards, it was difficult to publicise – we were concerned we would not get enough nominations. We utilised several different channels of communication, including social media, traditional media, the networks of the MACA, the peak ageing organisations and community groups in NSW, and the MACA secretariat. We were also able to encourage the Minister for Ageing to assist in publicising the awards.