Study Of The Elderly Media Image Of The People's Daily (2010—2014)

Presently, China has entered an aging society, and "aging before prospering" has become an undisputable reality. In this aging trend, the images of the old people constructed by the media not only affects the self-identification of the old people, but also influence the attitudes and viewpoints of the other social groups towards the old people. Consequently, constructing positive and healthy images of the old people has far-reaching significance.Based on the case study of the news reports on the old people in People's Daily from the year 2010 to 2014,this paper analyses the media images of the old people from the perspectives of demographic variables, themes,styles, and the inclination of these reports. It can be concluded that there are three frame types, including facts framework, propaganda and ethical framework, and the images of the old people in the reports in People's Daily are mainly neutral and positive. This finding manifests in the following aspects: the neutral and positive images of the old people are the absolute majority; old males gain more attention and better images; the elders in the eastern and central areas of China gets more concerns than those in the western areas; the old people in the rural areas have more troubles with their aging life and gets less media attention than the ones in the cities. aper contributes in two aspects.In the theoretical sense, it can supply empirical statistics that are conforming to the situation in our country to the study of the relationship between the media and the elder group. In the realistic sense, it can offer us an overall view of the media images of the old people, rouse the social concerns of them, help solve their difficulties and problems, and make sure they spend their remaining years in a healthy, happy and respectable environment.