De representatie van ouderen in artikels van kwaliteits- en populaire kranten

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how older people from the age of 65 are portrayed in Flemish newspapers. By comparing three major newspapers from Flanders in two different periods of time, we will examine whether or not older people are presented negatively or positively. A total amount of 280 articles from De Standaard, Het Laatste Nieuws and Het Nieuwsblad in April 2019 and April 2020 will be compared to each other. By doing so, we will gain an insight in whether the corona crisis in 2020 influenced the reporting of elderly. The proposed hypothesis states that older people will be portrayed negatively in both periods. However, the outcome shows that elderly are depicted positively in April 2019 and more negatively during the occurrence of the pandemic.