The Image of Ageing Women in Contemporary Media Ecosystem

Contemporary societies are undergoing significant social, economic, cultural, and political changes, correlating with the dynamic developments of the ICT environment. Today, these transformations are being catalyzed by the intense developments of the media ecosystem, combining the traditional media with the potential of the blogosphere, the social networks, and the mobile communications. Situated in the context of the globalization processes, media themselves are undergoing multi-layered transformations; they change with the dynamic developments taking place in technologies, business models, regulatory policies, professional practices, and audiences’ habits. However positive the impact of ICT applications and media developments on progress in all areas of life might be, it is no less true that they pose challenges to the social stratification of society.

The trend of population ageing determines the need for urgent prevention of digital divide, regarding the social exclusion of older people from the modern communication environment. Many detailed expert studies and public discussions have focused on the problem of overcoming prejudices and negative stereotypes towards generation differences as well as on the capacity of older people to take part in, and contribute to intercultural dialogue. The media portrayal of the ageing women, however, has not been sufficiently examined.

The proposed paper has been developed within the framework of the academic projects DCOST 01/10-04.08.2017, DCOST 01-11/04.08.2017, DCOST 01-25/20.12.2017.and DN 05/11-14.12.2016 of the National Scientific Research Fund of Bulgaria. It examines important general and specialized documents of the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the European Union on age discrimination. It also discusses significant studies and regulatory practices on media image of older people, including women, in enlarged Europe. The paper presents the results of a comparative study of ageing women’s portrayal in Bulgarian media. Results of a social survey on sustaining women’s rights as part of their human’s rights are also provided.