About
In this project, we explore how journalists, the aged care industry, and citizens have told the story of aged care, and asks the key research questions: Which variables impede or enable the dissemination of stories from the Royal Commission? Whose voices are heard, and in which mediums?
The media analysis component of this project involves large-scale data analysis of the country’s most influential national print, digital, and broadcast news outlets in order to identify who or what is made visible or rendered invisible. Beyond this, it also seeks to identify the nuances of how those visibilities operate in daily news coverage. Drawing on the lens of symbolic annihilation and visual news values, it does this through a qualitative representational and visual analysis of nationwide news coverage over this nearly three-year period, starting with the calling of the Royal Commission in 2018 through to four weeks after the government’s response in May 2021.
In the next phase of the media analysis, the research team will interview prominent social affairs journalists covering the sector about the challenges of covering aged care and telling aged care stories.
Exhibitions
Time to Listen
Below are some information panels about the Poetic Inquiry for this study, which were developed for the ‘Time to Listen’ exhibition:
Digital Media Research Centre Showcase
The media analysis study, as illustrated in this interactive, digital poster was on display as part of the Digital Media Research Centre Showcase at The Cube on October 6, 2022.
Images from the event:
Publications
Who or What Gets Referenced by Whom, How Often, and in Which Ways? Exploring Journalists’ Sourcing Practices in the Context of Aged Care Coverage
Visibility and invisibility in the aged care sector: Visual representation in Australian news from 2018–2021
citations on Web of Science
citations on Scopus
It’s not enough to be seen: Exploring how journalists show aged care in Australia from 2018-2021
Improving coverage of older People in Australian News
