Overcoming the vulnerability of older adults in contemporary media ecosystem (international policies and Bulgarian survey)

Abstract

Population ageing and the development of modern media digital environment are two interlinked processes in contemporary world. A new media ecosystem, combining the traditional and the online media, has been formed. The trend of population ageing determines the need for urgent prevention of digital generation divide, i.e. of the vulnerability and the social exclusion of older people from the modern information and communication environment. In order to deal with the challenges to population ageing, it is important to analyze how these issues are presented in the media, and to seek information on the current good practices and deficits regarding media and older adults. For this purpose, the proposed text is based on a selection of important general and specialized institutional documents of the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the European Union on age discrimination and media policies. Against this background the paper presents the results of a survey, conducted to measure the extent of vulnerability of older users of media content, compared to younger generations in the constantly changing media ecosystem.