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Older People 'Ignored By TV'
By:
Torin Douglas, BBC News
March 19, 2002
Sir
Trevor McDonald: Emerged as viewers' favourite presenter
It is not just policemen who are getting younger. Older people
think television presenters are too, according to a survey for Help the
Aged and the Independent Television Commission.
They also believe that producers of news and factual
programmes on television ignore the views of older people and fail to
portray them realistically.
The two organisations are hosting a conference on Tuesday to
see what can be done to improve the representation of older people on
screen.
It is a topical issue. The present trend in television,
according to its critics, is for younger, better-looking presenters and
reporters.
'Cute bottoms'
Many older correspondents - men as well as women - are finding
it harder to get on the screen.
It is widely seen as a symptom of 'dumbing-down'.
The BBC's chief news correspondent Kate Adie was recently
quoted on the subject in the Daily Mail: "They want women with cute
faces, cute bottoms and nothing else in between."
The paper reported that she had described herself as an
"ageing old trout", and said that television bosses were now
more concerned about the "shape of your leg" than professional
ability.
Ms Adie is one of those speaking at the conference, together
with the former editor of ITN Sir David Nicholas and the government
minister responsible for equality issues, Barbara Roche.
Over-65s 'ignored'
But it is not just the professionals who are finding age is a
barrier to appearing on television.
Viewers feel there is also a shortage of older interviewees in
news and factual programmes.
Around 70% of those questioned thought that the views of the
over-65s were ignored by programme-makers.
The figure was even higher for the over-75s, while half of
those over 55s thought their age group was not portrayed realistically in
news and factual programmes.
Yet viewers across all age groups said they would like to see
more older people on television, both as presenters and contributors.
And the favourite presenters were knowledgeable and
professional veterans such as Sir Trevor McDonald, Michael Buerk and Kate
Adie, rather than good-looking youngsters.
Young viewers
Asked for the qualities that made an ideal presenter, almost
everyone over the age of 55 plumped for 'knowledgeable', 'believable',
'professional and 'intelligent'.
Only 5% thought that 'physically attractive' was very
important, while 26% thought it fairly important.
Younger respondents, between the ages of 16 and 24, did favour
younger presenters - 42% wanted a presenter between the ages of 25 and 34.
But most of those asked said they did not mind what age a
presenter was.
Experience
Tuesday's conference is the culmination of a joint initiative
between Help the Aged and the ITC.
It follows a series of 'media awareness' workshops for older
people with ITV companies around the country.
The organisers say the focus was to equip older people to make
a contribution to factual programmes - and to demonstrate to news editors
and producers the rich vein of experience, opinion and authority that is
available.
But it seems the programme-makers still have a long way to go.
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© 2002 Global Action on Aging
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