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• Published: 26 July 2021

Large-scale quantitative evidence of media impact on public opinion toward China

• Junming Huang   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2532-4090 1 ,
• Gavin G. Cook 1 &
• Yu Xie 1 , 2  

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications volume  8 , Article number:  181 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

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• Cultural and media studies
• Politics and international relations

Do mass media influence people’s opinions of other countries? Using BERT, a deep neural network-based natural language processing model, this study analyzes a large corpus of 267,907 China-related articles published by The New York Times since 1970. The output from The New York Times is then compared to a longitudinal data set constructed from 101 cross-sectional surveys of the American public’s views on China, revealing that the reporting of The New York Times on China in one year explains 54% of the variance in American public opinion on China in the next. This result confirms hypothesized links between media and public opinion and helps shed light on how mass media can influence the public opinion of foreign countries.

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Introduction.

America and China are the world’s two largest economies, and they are currently locked in a tense rivalry. In a democratic system, public opinion shapes and constrains political action. How the American public views China thus affects relations between the two countries. Because few Americans have personally visited China, most Americans form their opinions of China and other foreign lands from media depictions. Our paper aims to explain how Americans form their attitudes on China with a case study of how The New York Times may shape public opinion. Our analysis is not causal, but it is informed by a causal understanding of how public opinion may flow from the media to the citizenry.

Scholars have adopted a number of wide-ranging and even contradictory approaches to explain the relationships between media and the American mind. One school of thought stresses that media exposure shapes public opinion (Baum and Potter, 2008 ; Iyengar and Kinder, 2010 ). Another set of approaches focuses on how the public might lead the media by analyzing how consumer demand shapes reporting. Newspapers may attract readers by biasing coverage of polarizing issues towards the ideological proclivities of their readership (Mullainathan and Shleifer, 2005 ), and with the advent of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, traditional media are now more responsive to audience demand than ever before (Jacobs and Shapiro, 2011 ). On the other side of this equation, news consumers generally tend to seek out news sources with which they agree (Iyengar et al., 2008 ), and politically active individuals do so more proactively than the average person (Zaller, 1992 ).

Two other approaches address factors outside the media–public binary. The first, stresses the role of elites in opinion formation. While some, famously including Noam Chomsky, argue that news media are unwitting at best and at worst complicit “shills” of the American political establishment, political elites may affect public opinion directly by communicating with the public (Baum and Potter, 2008 ). Foreign elites may also influence American opinion because American reporters sometimes circumvent domestic sources and ask trusted foreign experts and officials for opinions (Hayes and Guardino, 2011 ). The second stresses how the macro-level phenomenon of public sentiment is shaped by micro-level and meso-level processes. An adult’s opinions on various topics emerge from their personal values, many of which are set during and around adolescence from factors outside of the realm of individual control (Hatemi and McDermott, 2016 ). Social networks may also affect attitude formation (Kertzer and Zeitzoff, 2017 ).

In light of these contradictory interpretations, it is difficult to be sure whether the media shape the attitudes of consumers or, on the other hand, whether consumers shape media (Baum and Potter, 2008 ). Moreover, most of the theories summarized above are tested on relatively small slices of data. In order to offer an alternative, “big data”-based contribution to this ongoing debate, this study compares how the public views China and how the news media report on China with large-scale data. Our data set, which straddles 50 years of newspaper reporting and survey data, is uniquely large and includes more than a quarter-million articles from The New York Times.

Most extant survey data indicate that Americans do not seem to like China very much (Xie and Jin, 2021 ). Many Americans are reported to harbor doubts about China’s record on human rights (Aldrich et al., 2015 ; Cao and Xu, 2015 ) and are anxious about China’s burgeoning economic, military, and strategic power (Gries and Crowson, 2010 ; Yang and Liu, 2012 ). They also think that the Chinese political system fails to serve the needs of the Chinese people (Aldrich et al., 2015 ). Most Americans, however, recognize a difference between the Chinese state, the Chinese people, and Chinese culture, and they view the latter two more favorably (Gries and Crowson, 2010 ). In Fiske’s Stereotype Content Model (Fiske et al., 2002 ), which expresses common stereotypes as a combination of “competence” and “warmth”, Asians belong to a set of “high-status, competitive out-groups” and rank high in competence but low in warmth (Lin et al., 2005 ).

The New York Times, which calls itself the “Newspaper of Record”, is the most influential newspaper in the USA and possibly even in the Anglophonic world. It boasts 7.5 million subscribers (Business Wire, 2021 ), and while the paper’s reach may be impressive, it is yet more significant that the readership of The New York Times represents an elite subset of the American public. Print subscribers to The New York Times have a median household income of $191,000, three times the median income of US households writ large (Rothbaum and Edwards, 2019 ). Despite the paper’s haughty and sometimes condescending reporting, it “has had and still has immense social, political, and economic influence on American and the world” (Schwarz, 2012 , p. 81). The New York Times may be a paper for America’s elite, and it may be biased to reflect the tastes of its elite audience, but the paper’s ideological slant does not affect our analyses as long as the its relevant biases are consistent over the time period covered by our analyses. Our analyses support the intuition of qualitative work on The Times (Schwarz, 2012 ) and show that these biases remain more or less constant for the decades in our sample. These analyses also illuminate some of the paper’s more notable biases, including the paper’s particular predilection for globalization.

The impact of social media on traditional media is not straightforward. While new media have certainly changed old media, neither has replaced the other. It is more accurate to say that old media have been integrated into new media and, in some ways, become a form of new media themselves. Twitter has accelerated the 2000s-era trends of information access that made it possible for news readers to find their own news and also enabled readers to interact with journalists (Jacobs and Shapiro, 2011 ), and the The New York Times seems to have made a significant commitment to the Twitter ecosystem. A quick glance at the follower count of The Times’ official Twitter account shows that it is one of the most influential accounts on the site, with almost 50 million followers. For comparison, both current president Joe Biden and vice president Kamala Harris have around 10 million followers. Most New York Times reporters additionally have “verified” accounts on the platform, which means that individual reporters may be incentivized to maintain public-facing profiles more now than in the past.

The media consumption patterns that made new media possible have changed the way The New York Times interacts with its audience and how it extracts revenue. The New York Times boasts a grand total of 7.5 million subscribers, but only 800,000 of them subscribe to the print edition. The Times’ digital subscription base has boomed since the election of Donald J. Trump, growing almost sixfold from a paltry 1.3 million in 2015 to a staggering 6.7 million in 2020 (Business Wire, 2021 ). The Times increasingly relies more on digital subscriptions and less on print subscriptions and ad sales for revenue (Lee, 2020 ). Ad revenue for most papers has been in sharp decline since the early 2000s (Jacobs and Shapiro, 2011 ), and this trend has only continued into the present. The New York Times now operates almost like a direct-to-consumer, subscription tech startup. New media have not replaced but have certainly changed old media. The full impact of these changes is beyond the scope of this paper, and we suggest it as an area for further research.

A small body of prior work has studied the The New York Times and how The New York Times reports on China. Blood and Phillips use autoregression methods on time series data to predict public opinion (Blood and Phillips, 1995 ). Wu et al. use a similar autoregression technique and find that public sentiment regarding the economy predicts economic performance and that people pay more attention to economic news during recessions (Wu et al., 2002 ). Peng finds that coverage of China in the paper has been consistently negative but increasingly frequent as China became an economic powerhouse (Peng, 2004 ). There is very little other scholarship that applies language processing methods to large corpora of articles from The New York Times or other leading papers. Atalay et al. is an exception that uses statistical techniques for parsing natural languages to analyze a corpus of newspaper articles from The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and other leading papers in order to investigate the increasing use of information technologies in newspaper classifieds (Atalay et al., 2018 ).

We explore the impact of The New York Times on its readers by examining the general relationship between The Times and public opinion. Though some might contend that only elites read NYT, we have adopted this research strategy for two reasons. If the views of NYT only impacted the nation’s elite, the paper’s views would still propagate to the general public through the elites themselves because elites can affect public opinion outside of media channels (Baum and Potter, 2008 ). Additionally, it is a widely held belief that NYT serves as a general barometer of an agenda-setting agent for American culture (Schwarz, 2012 ). Because of these two reasons, we interpolate the relationship between NYT and public opinion from the relationship between NYT and its readers, and we extrapolate that the views of NYT are broadly representative of American media.

Our paper aims to advance understanding of how Americans form their attitudes on China with a case study of how The New York Times may shape public opinion. We hypothesize that media coverage of foreign nations affects how Americans view the rest of the world. This reduced-form model deliberately simplifies the interactions between audience and media and sidesteps many active debates in political psychology and political communication. Analyzing a corpus of 267,907 articles on China from The New York Times, we quantify media sentiment with BERT, a state-of-the-art natural language processing model with deep neural networks, and segment sentiment into eight domain topics. We then use conventional statistical methods to link media sentiment to a longitudinal data set constructed from 101 cross-sectional surveys of the American public’s views on China. We find strong correlations between how The New York Times reports on China in one year and the views of the public on China in the next. The correlations agree with our hypothesis and imply a strong connection between media sentiment and public opinion.

We quantify media sentiment with a natural language model on a large-scale corpus of 267,907 articles on China from The New York Times published between 1970 and 2019. To explore sentiment from this corpus in greater detail, we map every article to a sentiment category (positive, negative, or neutral) in eight topics: ideology, government and administration, democracy, economic development, marketization, welfare and well-being, globalization, and culture.

We do this with a three-stage modeling procedure. First, two human coders annotate 873 randomly selected articles with a total of 18,598 paragraphs expressing either positive, negative, or neutral sentiment in each topic. We treat irrelevant articles as neutral sentiments. Secondly, we fine-tune a natural language processing model Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) (Devlin et al., 2018 ) with the human-coded labels. The model uses a deep neural network with 12 layers. It accepts paragraphs (i.e., word sequences of no more than 128 words) as input and outputs a probability for each category. We end up with two binary classifiers for each topic for a grand total of 16 classifiers: an assignment classifier that determines whether a paragraph expresses sentiment in a given topic domain and a sentiment classifier that then distinguishes positive and negative sentiments in a paragraph classified as belonging to a given topic domain. Thirdly, we run the 16 trained classifiers on each paragraph in our corpus and assign category probabilities to every paragraph. We then use the probabilities of all the paragraphs in an article to determine the article’s overall sentiment category (i.e., positive, negative, or neutral) in every topic.

As demonstrated in Table 1 , the two classifiers are accurate at both the paragraph and article levels. The assignment classifier and the sentiment classifier reach classification accuracy of 89–96% and 73–90%, respectively, on paragraphs. The combined outcome of the classifiers, namely article sentiment, is accurate to 62–91% across the eight topics. For comparison, a random guess would reach an accuracy of 50% on each task (see Supplementary Information for details).

American public opinion towards China is a composite measure drawn from national surveys that ask respondents for their opinions on China. We collect 101 cross-sectional surveys from 1974 to 2019 that asked relevant questions about attitudes toward China and incorporate a probabilistic model to harmonize different survey series with different scales (e.g., 4 levels, 10 levels) into a single time series, capitalizing on “seaming” years in which different survey series overlapped (Wang et al., 2021 ). For every year, there is a single real value representing American sentiment on China relative to the level in 1974. Put another way, we use sentiment in 1974 as a baseline measure to normalize the rest of the time series. A positive value shows a more favorable attitude than that in 1974, and a negative value represents a less favorable attitude than that in 1974. Because of this, the trends in sentiment changes year-over-year are of interest, but the absolute values of sentiment in a given year are not. As shown in Fig. 1 , public opinion towards China has varied greatly from 1974 to 2019. It steadily climbed from a low of −24% in 1976 to a high of 73% in 1987, and has fluctuated between 10% and 48% in the intervening 30 years.

This time series is aggregated from 101 cross-sectional surveys from 1974 to 2019 that asked relevant questions about attitudes toward China with the year of 1974 as baseline. Years with attitudes above zero show a more favorable attitude than that in 1974, with a peak of 73% in 1987. Years with attitudes below zero show a less favorable attitude than that in 1974, with the lowest level of −24% in 1976. The time series is shown with a 95% confidence interval.

We begin with a demonstration of how the reporting of The New York Times on China changes over time, and we follow this with an analysis of how coverage of China might influence public opinion toward China.

Trend of media sentiment

The New York Times has maintained a steady interest in China over the years and has published at least 3,000 articles on China in every year of our corpus. Figure 2 displays the yearly volume of China-related articles from The New York Times on each of the eight topics since 1970. Articles on China increased sharply after 2000 and eventually reached a peak around 2010, almost doubling their volume from the 1970s. As the number of articles on China increased, the amount of attention paid to each of the eight topics diverged. Articles on government, democracy, globalization, and culture were consistently common while articles on ideology were consistently rare. In contrast, articles on China’s economy, marketization, and welfare were rare before 1990 but became increasingly common after 2000. The timing of this uptick coincided neatly with worldwide recognition of China’s precipitous economic ascent and specifically the beginnings of China’s talks to join the World Trade Organization.

In each year we report in each topic the number of positive and negative articles while ignoring neutral/irrelevant articles. The media have consistently high attention on reporting China government & administration, democracy, globalization, and culture. There are emerging interests on China’s economics, marketization, and welfare and well-being since 1990s. Note that the sum of the stacks does not equal to the total volume of articles about China, because each article may express sentiment in none or multiple topics.

While the proportion of articles in each given topic change over time, the sentiment of articles in each topic is remarkably consistent. Ignoring neutral articles, Figure 3 illustrates the yearly fractions of positive and negative articles about each of the eight topics. We find four topics (economics, globalization, culture, and marketization) are almost always covered positively while reporting on the other four topics (ideology, government & administration, democracy, and welfare & well-being) is overwhelmingly negative.

The panel reports the trend of yearly media attitude toward China in ( A ) ideology, ( B ) government & administration, ( C ) democracy, ( D ) economic development, ( E ) marketization, ( F ) welfare & well-being, ( G ) globalization, and ( H ) culture. The media attitude is measured as the percentages of positive articles and negative articles, respectively. US–China relation milestones are marked as gray dots. The New York Times express diverging but consistent attitudes in the eight domains, with negative articles consistently common in ideology, government, democracy, and welfare, and positive sentiments common in economic, globalization, and culture. Standard errors are too small to be visible (below 1.55% in all topics all years).

The NYT views China’s globalization in a very positive light. Almost 100% of the articles mentioning this topic are positive for all of the years in our sample. This reveals that The New York Times welcomes China’s openness to the world and, more broadly, may be particularly partial to globalization in general.

Similarly, economics, marketization, and culture are covered most commonly in positive tones that have only grown more glowing over time. Positive articles on these topics began in the 1970s with China–US Ping–Pong diplomacy, and eventually comprise 1/4 to 1/2 of articles on these three topics, the remainder of which are mostly neutral articles. This agrees with the intuition that most Americans like Chinese culture. The New York Times has been deeply enamored with Chinese cultural products ranging from Chinese art to Chinese food since the very beginning of our sample. Following China’s economic reforms, the number of positive articles and the proportion of positive articles relative to negative articles increases for both economics and marketization.

In contrast, welfare and well-being are covered in an almost exclusively negative light. About 1/4 of the articles on this topic are negative, and almost no articles on this topic are positive. Topics regarding politics are covered very negatively. Negative articles on ideology, government and administration, and democracy outnumber positive articles on these topics for all of the years in our sample. Though small fluctuations that coincided with ebbs in US–China relations are observed for those three topics, coverage has only grown more negative over time. Government and administration is the only negatively covered topic that does feature some positive articles. This reflects the qualitative understanding that The New York Times thinks that the Chinese state is an unpleasant but capable actor.

Despite the remarkable diversity of sentiment toward China across the eight topics, sentiment within each of the topics is startlingly consistent over time. This consistency attests to the incredible stability of American stereotypes towards China. If there is any trend to be found here, it is that the main direction of sentiment in each topic, positive or negative, has grown more prevalent since the 1970s. This is to say that reporting on China has become more polarized, which is reflective of broader trends of media polarization (Jacobs and Shapiro, 2011 ; Mullainathan and Shleifer, 2005 ).

Media sentiment affects public opinion

To reveal the connection between media sentiment and public opinion, we run a linear regression model (Eq. ( 1 )) to fit public opinion with media sentiment from current and preceding years.

where μ t denotes public opinion in year t with possible values ranging from −1 to 1. F k j s is the fraction of positive ( s  = positive) or negative ( s  = negative) articles on topic k in year j . Coefficient β k j s quantifies the importance of F k j s in predicting μ t .

There is inertia to public opinion. A broadly held opinion is hard to change in the short term, and it may require a while for media sentiment to affect how the public views a given issue. For this reason, j is allowed to take [ t , t  − 1, t  − 2, ...] anywhere from zero to a couple of years ahead of t . In other words, we inspect lagged values of media sentiment as candidate predictors for public attitudes towards China.

We seek an optimal solution of media sentiment predictors to explain the largest fraction of variance ( r 2 ) of public opinion. To reduce the risk of overfitting, we first constrain the coefficients to be non-negative after reverse-coding negative sentiment variables, which means we assume that positive articles have either no impact or positive impact and that negative articles have either zero or negative impact on public opinion. Secondly, we require that the solution be sparse and contain no more than one non-zero coefficient in each topic:

where r 2 ( μ , β , F ) is the explained variance of μ fitted with ( β , F ). The l 0 -norm ∥ β k , ⋅ , ⋅ ∥ 0 gives the number of non-zero coefficients of topic k predictors.

The solution varies with the number of topics included in the fitting model. As shown in Table 2 , if we allow fitting with only one topic, we find that sentiment on Chinese culture has the most explanatory power, accounting for 31.2% of the variance in public opinion. We run a greedy strategy to add additional topics that yield the greatest increase in explanatory power, resulting in eight nested models (Table 2 ). The explanatory power of our models increases monotonically with the number of allowed topics but reaches a saturation point at which the marginal increase in variance explained per topics decreases after only two topics are introduced (see Table 2 ). To strike a balance between simplicity and explanatory power, we use the top two predictors, which are the positive sentiment of culture and the negative sentiment of democracy in the previous year, to build a linear predictor of public opinion that can be written as

where F culture, t −1,positive is the yearly fraction of positive articles on Chinese culture in year t  − 1 and F democracy, t −1,negative is the yearly fraction of negative articles on Chinese democracy in year t  − 1. This formula explains 53.9% of the variance of public opinion in the time series. For example, in 1993 53.9% of the articles on culture had a positive sentiment, and 46.9% of the articles on democracy had negative sentiment ( F c u l t u r e ,1993,positive  = 0.539, F democracy,1993,negative  = −0.469). Substituting those numbers into Eq. ( 2 ) predicts public opinion in the next year (1994) to be 0.208, very close to the actual level of public opinion (0.218) (Fig. 4 ).

The public opinion (solid), as a time series, is well fitted by the media sentiments on two selected topics, namely “Culture” and “Democracy”, in the previous year. The dashed line shows a linear prediction based on the fractions of positive articles on “Culture” and negative articles on “Democracy” in the previous year. The public opinion is shown with a 95% confidence interval, and the fitted line is shown with one standard error.

By analyzing a corpus of 267,907 articles from The New York Times with BERT, a state-of-the-art natural language processing model, we identify major shifts in media sentiment towards China across eight topic domains over 50 years and find that media sentiment leads public opinion. Our results show that the reporting of The New York Times on culture and democracy in one year explains 53.9% of the variation in public opinion on China in the next. The conclusion that we draw from our results is that media sentiment on China predicts public opinion on China. Our analysis is neither conclusive nor causal, but it is suggestive. Our results are best interpreted as a “reduced-form” description of the overall relationship between media sentiment and public opinion towards China.

While there are a number of potential factors that may complicate our conclusions, none would change the overall thrust of our results. We do not consider how the micro-level or meso-level intermediary processes through which opinion from elite media percolates to the masses below may affect our results. We also do not consider the potential ramifications of elites communing directly with the public, of major events in US–China relations causing short-term shifts in reporting, or of social media creating new channels for the diffusion of opinion. Finally, The New York Times might have a particular bias to how it covers China.

In addition to those specified above, a number of possible extensions of our work remain ripe targets for further research. Though a fully causal model of our text analysis pipeline may prove elusive (Egami et al., 2018 ), future work may use randomized vignettes to further our understanding of the causal effects of media exposure on attitudes towards China. Secondly, our modeling framework is deliberately simplified. The state affects news coverage before the news ever makes its way to the citizenry. It is plausible that multiple state-level actors may bypass the media and alter public opinion directly and to different ends. For example, the actions and opinions of individual high-profile US politicians may attenuate or exaggerate the impact of state-level tension on public sentiment toward China. There are presumably a whole host of intermediary processes through which opinion from elite media affects the sentiment of the masses. Thirdly, the relationship between the sentiment of The New York Times and public opinion may be very different for hot-button social issues of first-line importance in the American culture wars. In our corpus, The New York Times has covered globalization almost entirely positively, but the 2016 election of President Donald J. Trump suggests that many Americans do not share the zeal of The Times for international commerce. We also plan to extend our measure of media sentiment to include text from other newspapers. The Guardian, a similarly elite, Anglophonic, and left-leaning paper, will make for a useful comparison case. Finally, our analysis was launched in the midst of heightened tensions between the US and China and concluded right before the outbreak of a global pandemic. Many things have changed since COVID-19. Returning to our analysis with an additional year or two of data will almost certainly provide new results of additional interest.

Future work will address some of these additional paths, but none of these elements affects the basic conclusion of this work. We find that reporting on China in one year predicts public opinion in the next. This is true for more than fifty years in our sample, and while knowledge of, for example, the opinion diffusion process on social media may add detail to this relationship, the basic flow of opinion from media to the public will not change. Regarding the putative biases of The New York Times, its ideological slant does not affect our explanation of trends in public opinion of China as long as the paper’s relevant biases are relatively consistent over the time period covered by our analyses.

Data availability

All data analyzed during the current study are publicly available. The New York Times data were accessed using official online APIs ( https://developer.nytimes.com/ ). We used their query API to search for 267,907 articles that mention China, Chinese, Beijing, Peking, or Shanghai. We downloaded the full text and date of each article. The survey data were obtained from three large public archives/centers, namely Roper Center for Public Opinion Research (ROPER), NORC at the University of Chicago, and Pew Research Center (Pew Research Center, 2019 ; Smith et al., 2018 ). See Supplementary Information for a full list of surveys. The source codes and pretrained parameters of the natural language processing model BERT are publicly released by Google Inc. on its github repository ( https://github.com/google-research/bert ). The finetuned BERT models and the inferred sentiment of The New York Times articles in our corpus are publicly available at Princeton University DataSpace. Please check the project webpage ( http://www.attitudetowardchina.com/media-opinion ) or the DataSpace webpage ( https://doi.org/10.34770/x27d-0545 ) to download.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Chesley Chan (Princeton University), Wen Liu (Renmin University of China), Yichun Yang (Renmin University of China), and Emily Yin (Princeton University) for coding The New York Times articles with the topic-specific sentiment. The authors thank Chih-Jou Jay Chen (Academia Sinica), Cheng Cheng (Singapore Management University), Shawn Dorius (Iowa State University), Theodore P. Gerber (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Fengming Lu (Australian National University), Yongai Jin (Renmin University of China), Donghui Wang (Princeton University) for valuable discussions. The authors thank Xudong Guo (Tsinghua University) for helping fine-tune the BERT model and analyze the calculation results. The authors thank Tom Marling for proofreading the manuscript. The research was partially supported by the Paul and Marcia Wythes Center on Contemporary China at Princeton University and Guanghua School of Management at Peking University.

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Huang, J., Cook, G.G. & Xie, Y. Large-scale quantitative evidence of media impact on public opinion toward China. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 8 , 181 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-021-00846-2

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A Case Study of Media Influence on Public Attitudes Towards Celebrities

How the sex scandal of kris wu influences his public recognition and celebrity endorsement.

In the new media era, media reports can highly influence public attitudes, and events involving celebrities usually draw great attention from the public. Besides, celebrities usually enjoy a high level of public recognition and endorse products, which is known as celebrity endorsement. Also, fandom economy, the operational income generating behavior relationship between fans and their idols, has grown stronger in recent decades[1]. A recent social event calls public attention in China. Chinese-Canadian pop star Kris Wu was detained by Beijing police for alleged rape and there is extensive media coverage of this event[2]. The author intends to test the drench hypothesis on the extent to which public attitudes toward Kris Wu and the whole idol community are affected by conducting an online survey of it. The change of idol community’s influence as celebrity endorsers is also investigated in the author’s survey. According to the data and results of this survey, it can be concluded that public attitudes toward Kris Wu and idol community and idol community’s influence as celebrity endorsers are both declined after the public was exposed to this scandal. What’s more, future research can be done on similar cases where celebrities are involved in well-known scandals, focusing more on the change difference between public attitudes toward a specific celebrity and public attitudes toward the community to which the celebrity belongs to.

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Approaching Media Influence and its Mechanisms

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The theoretical foundations of media research that are important for this thesis relate to the research on agenda-setting in the media; the analysis of biased, tendentious, and fake news; and, of course, how the media influences the opinion-forming processes that shape the environment in which we have to act. Finally, this section analyses how these processes influence actions, thereby steering businesses, consumers, and society in various ways.

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Starosta, K. (2022). Approaching Media Influence and its Mechanisms. In: Measuring the Impact of Online Media on Consumers, Businesses and Society. Sustainable Management, Wertschöpfung und Effizienz. Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-36729-9_1

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A Case Study of Media Influence on Public Attitudes Towards Celebrities

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Celebrity endorsement in social media contexts: understanding the role of parasocial interactions and the need to belong, does media coverage influence public attitudes towards welfare recipients the impact of the 2011 english riots., fan economy in the chinese media and entertainment industry: how feedback from super fans can propel creative industries’ revenue, who is the celebrity endorser cultural foundations of the endorsement process, idol commercialization in china, qualitative case study methodology: study design and implementation for novice researchers, organ transplantation scandal influencing corneal donation rate., drench and drip hypothesis, the police in china, related papers.

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Effects of New Media Use on Health Behaviors: A Case Study in China

Background:.

Mass communication is one of the most important ways in health communication. The emergence of new media has changed the way people acquire health information and then their health behaviors. However, few studies have been conducted about complicated relations between media use and health behaviors under new media conditions and further systematic explanation is needed.

A hypothesis model for the influence of WeChat use on health behaviors was constructed to explore the internal influencing mechanism of new media use on health behaviors. An empirical analysis on the internal influencing mechanism of WeChat use on health behaviors was carried out with a survey data consist of 463 young active users on famous online social network sites in China from March to June 2019.

New media use represented by WeChat has significant positive influence on health behaviors. Individuals who frequently use new media related to health have better health conditions than those who rarely use them. The improvement of health behaviors is mainly attributed to acquisition of health knowledge. Such effect is also mediated by the degree of individuals’ trust in health knowledge.

Conclusion:

This study not only discloses the influencing mechanism of new media use and health knowledge on health behaviors, but also confirms the value of new media in promoting public health communication and public health behaviors. Conclusions provide significant references in decision-making to develop effective guidance of public health.

Introduction

Health is an eternal topic that concerns mankind. The world perceives the improvement of public health quality and health level as the prior strategy of social development. Universal health coverage is one of the 17 sustainable development projects in the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” of the United Nations, which emphasizes the popularization of health knowledge, and the promotion of physical and psychological health of the entire population. In the past 25 years, the total global population increased by approximately 2 billion and the average expected life expectancy of residents in different continents in 2019 reached 72.6 years, which was 13.1% higher than that in 1990 ( 1 ). Further academic studies on health issues find that the health behaviors of mankind influence their health levels significantly ( 2 ). Therefore, exploring factors that influence health behaviors in the new media age and thereby get a way to improve public health is apparently a problem that is worth of deep reflections.

Media is the main platform and carrier of health communication. Media use influences health behaviors ( 3 ). Relevant studies begin to focus on Internet media, because of their unique role in changing human attitudes toward health and health behaviors and persuading the public to participate in health protection ( 4 ). The ability of rebuilding social identity is strengthened through an accurate analysis and point-to-point spreading of behavior and demands of the audience through new media use ( 5 ). As a representative new media, WeChat is superior to traditional media in terms of propagation force, influence, and coverage. It also becomes an important method for health communication ( 6 ). Although scholars have concluded through empirical analysis or qualitative speculation that media use can influence health behaviors of individuals, this complicated relation and its mechanisms remain under-studied in the new media age.

In this study, we constructed a theoretical model of the influence of health-related WeChat use on individual health behaviors by taking the main user groups of WeChat as research subjects. Moreover, we proposeed corresponding research hypotheses and analyze them by using a structural equation model (SEM). We explored the values of new media use in disseminating health knowledge and health behaviors, and provide effective intervention strategies to help relevant departments guide the public health.

Literature Review and Hypothesis Development

Internet has displayed its infinite power in health communication since its commercial use. Generally, online health communication is a scientific and art practice that spreads health-related information to the public by using the Internet technology and helps them develop positive health beliefs and health behaviors, which in turn strengthen their health management ( 7 ). As a new media, Internet can spread information and knowledge related to health through various ways. It can make different target groups or individuals accept the provided health knowledge, enabling the promotion of public health ( 8 ). Related studies focus on the motivation, content, degree and influencing factors of different groups using Internet to obtain health knowledge, and the degree of people’s trust in online health knowledge. WeChat has become the most representative online new media in China since its launch in 2011. This study investigates the problems related to health communication on new media in China by conducting a case study based on WeChat.

Academic studies generally believe that media use can influence the acquisition of health knowledge and individual health behaviors. The “Stanford Heart Disease Prevention Program” is widely accepted as the beginning of health communication studies, and its results show that people who receive abundant health knowledge from mass communication and those who make further contacts with media can easily change their health behaviors ( 9 ). Social media can intervene in individual health behaviors to some extent and they cover various disease prevention behaviors, such as physical fitness and exercises, anti-smoking behaviors, and AIDS prevention ( 10 ). Gough et al. conducted an experiment of health communication in social media and found that astonishing information can generate great information presentation, humor information can attract the attention of users, and education information can bring more forwards ( 11 ). Zhen Manning investigated the health literacy of some residents in Beijing and Hefei in China and found that health behavior is significantly and positively correlated with the frequent use of traditional media, such as newspapers and television ( 12 ). The audiences who use media related to health information more are likely to form positive health attitudes ( 13 ). To sum up, media use is conducive to effective health communication and it can persuade and improve individual health behaviors. Hence, we proposed the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis 1: Individuals who frequently use health-related functions of WeChat are more positive toward health behaviors than those who rarely use them.

Hypothesis 2: individuals who frequently use health-related functions of wechat possess more health knowledge than those who rarely use them..

Theories on behavioral changes, such as health belief model and theory of planning behavior, have proven the role of health knowledge in promoting health behaviors. After the popularization of Internet, scholars started to discuss the influence of health knowledge on health behaviors on social media. Health-related contents published by Facebook users focus on disease knowledge and relevant experiences. The applicability, interesting degree, and correlation of information can influence the health behaviors of the users ( 14 ). By taking African American adults as research subjects, Swenson et al. pointed out that the acquisition of AIDS knowledge on social media has influence on their sexual behaviors and health ( 15 ). Worsley argued that nutritional knowledge of individuals contributes to the formation of healthy diet habit, but this contribution is influenced by social environmental factors and individual temperament ( 16 ). Bergman also found that people who searched health and medical knowledge online have higher level of health behaviors than those who do not search for relevant knowledge ( 17 ). Therefore, media use can influence health knowledge and behaviors of people to some extent. Accordingly, we proposed the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis 3: Individuals who possess more health knowledge are more positive toward health behaviors than those with less relevant knowledge.

Hypothesis 4: wechat use related to health exerts positive indirect effects on health behaviors through health knowledge..

Some studies also investigated the degree of trust in information on new media by using social media as the overall media form. The results show that people trust health knowledge on media when facing unimportant health problems, and frequent media use promotes health behaviors ( 18 ). The reliability of health information on new media is restricted by communication channels ( 19 ), and technological characteristics in dissemination of information affect individual’s evaluation of information trust ( 20 ). A positive trust relationship may further assist an individual in obtaining positive emotions and health benefits ( 21 ). The degree of public’s trust in health knowledge acquired from media can affect the relationship between media use and their health behaviors in this media society. On this basis, we proposed the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis 5: The degree of individual’s trust in health knowledge on WeChat can adjust the relationship between WeChat Use and health behaviors.

Generally, studies on health knowledge and health behaviors focus on new media. Research on the new media, such as WeChat, is increasing day by day. However, the effects of new media use and health knowledge acquisition on health behaviors and internal influencing mechanism have been hardly studied, and thus further discussions are needed. The current study aims to explore the action mechanism of WeChat use on health knowledge and health behavior in the new media age.

Accordingly, a theoretical hypothesis model of the relationships among WeChat use, health knowledge, and health behaviors was constructed ( Fig. 1 ).

Structure of the proposed theoretical analysis model

Data were acquired through questionnaire survey and processed by using SPSS 20.0 (Chicago, IL, USA) and AMOS17.0 to test the reliability and validity of the measurement scales of different variables and verify the proposed hypotheses in the model.

Data Collection

Data were acquired through conducting an online questionnaire survey. Given that this study targeted respondents with experiences in using new media, young active users on three Chinese famous online social websites of Sina MicroBlog, Tianya Community, and Baidu Tieba were chosen as research respondents. Questionnaires were sent and collected online on these three social websites from March to June, 2019. A total of 600 questionnaires were sent and 542 were collected. All collected questionnaires were checked in accordance with the integrity and quality standard of the answers, through which 79 invalid questionnaires were eliminated. Therefore, 463 valid questionnaires were remained, which basically met the relatively strict requirements of scholars on sample size ( 22 ).

Research Variables

On the basis of representative academic results in relevant fields, some variables were chosen: WeChat use (WU) related to health as the independent variable, health behaviors (HB) as the dependent variable, health knowledge (HK) as the mediated variable, and the degree of trust in health knowledge (HT) as the regulated variable. The independent variable (WU) refers to the use of WeChat for the purpose of maintaining health or preventing and treating diseases. In previous studies, the operationalization of media use was measured using time, frequency, and content. For instance, Livingstone et al. measured Internet use of young users ( 23 ). Panek measured the usage time and frequency of social media by university students ( 24 ). With reference to the existing mature scale of Panek combined with our research background, WU was measured by using five-item scale about time, frequency, and content in the present study. These five items were “I frequently use WeChat everyday”, “I use WeChat longer than other applications in my phone”, “I read many articles related to health on WeChat everyday”, “I frequently subscribe to considerable health information on WeChat,” and “I frequently search for health information on WeChat.”

The dependent variable (HB) refers to the positive behaviors that individuals take to prevent diseases and maintain their health. Scholars designed and verified some HB scales and questionnaires, such as the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile which was formulated by Walker et al. ( 25 ) and the Adolescent Health-Promoting Scale of Taiwan Version by Chen ( 26 ). The current study referred to the existing mature scale of Chen Meiyan and measured HB by using 16 items of 6 dimensions, namely, daily routine behavior, nutrition diet behavior, exercise behavior, hazard avoidance behavior, emotional management behavior and health responsibility behavior.

The mediated variable (HK) refers to individual cognition degree to different categories of health knowledge. The Health Knowledge Scale which by Vega et al. is the main scale that has been verified ( 27 ). Hsueh improved this Health Knowledge Scale and verified it to evaluate two types of health knowledge in frequent contact of the public: diet and exercise ( 28 ). In the current study, the mature scale of Hsueh was applied to divide health knowledge on diet and exercise into 12 specific items.

The regulated variable (HT) belongs to Information Source Attraction Cognitive Trust (IACT). Scholars, including McAllister et al. ( 29 ) and Zhao et al. ( 30 ), developed mature scales of IACT. With references to the existing mature scale of Zhao et al., the current study formed two specific items of HT, namely, cognition degree and trust degree of health knowledge.

The respondents measured the questions in the online questionnaire survey by using the Likert’s five-point method. After the initial questionnaire was determined, a pre-survey was performed to delete questions with low reliability. Finally, the official questionnaire with 35 questions was formed.

Validity and reliability test results of the variables

Table 1 shows the reliability and validity test results of the measurement model. The results showed that Cronbach’s α of the scale was higher than 0.7, indicating good reliability. According to the fit indices of the model, χ 2 / df of the three variables was between 1 and 3, and RMR and smaller than 0.05. The values of GFI, AFGI, NFI, IFI, and CFI were higher than the ideal level of 0.9; and the RMSEA value was lower than 0.08. These results proved that the confirmatory factor analysis of all variables was within the acceptable range, indicating a good structural validity.

Reliability and validity analysis results of the model

Verification and results of the structural model

Sem analysis results of the influence of wechat use on health behaviors.

Direct and indirect influence of WeChat use on health behaviors were analyzed by using AMOS17.0 ( Fig. 2 ). Table 2 shows the goodness of fit of the model after correction. The absolute fit index χ 2 / df of the model was smaller than the strict standard of 3; GFI, AGFI, NFI, IFI, and CFI values were higher than the ideal level of 0.9; and RMSEA was lower than the ideal standard of 0.05. According to SEM analysis results and data fitting, the proposed theoretical model was proven reasonable and applicable to test the proposed hypotheses. Hypotheses were tested by using the significance of path coefficient ( Table 3 ). The path coefficient of WeChat use to health knowledge was 0.771, and the P value was lower than 0.001, reaching the significance level. Therefore, hypothesis 1 was supported: the more frequent WeChat use, the more health knowledge individuals obtain. The path coefficient of health knowledge to health behaviors was 0.096, and the P value was 0.003 (<0.05), reaching the significance level. Hence, hypothesis 2 was supported: the more health knowledge individuals obtain, the better their health conditions. The indirect effect of WeChat use on health behaviors through health knowledge was 0.771*0.696, supporting the hypothesis 3.

SEM analysis results

Fit indices of the model

Regression analysis of path coefficient

The path coefficient of WeChat use to the degree of trust in health knowledge was 0.718, and the P value was smaller than 0.05, reaching the significance level. Therefore, hypothesis 4 was supported: individuals who use WeChat more frequently have higher degree of trust in health knowledge than those who rarely use the media. To sum up, hypothesis 1–4 were all supported.

Mediating effect to the degree of trust in health knowledge

Given that the mediated variable “HK” and the independent variable “WU” are continuous variables, whether the interaction of these two variables with other variables is significantly was determined by using hierarchical regression analysis ( Table 4 ). According to the hierarchical regression analysis results, the regression coefficient of the interaction terms of HT and WU was 0.018. The standardized regression coefficient was 0.025, and the P value was 0.041, reaching the significance level. This finding reflected the positive mediating effect of HT on the relationship between WU and health behaviors. Thus, hypothesis 5 was supported.

Regression analysis of the mediated variable to health behaviors

Generally, all five proposed hypotheses were proven by empirical studies, indicating that the proposed hypothesis model was relatively appropriate.

Discussions

According to the data analysis based on SEM, “WeChat use” related with health can cause positively affect “health knowledge” and “health behaviors,” and “health knowledge” of individuals can influence “health behaviors” significantly. Moreover, “the degree of trust in health knowledge” has positive mediating effect on the relationship between “WeChat use” and “health behaviors.” For example, Corbett and Mori demonstrated that media reports on health issues can influence ordinary public significantly. The more concentrated the reports of a disease, the higher the degree of public’s trust in relevant health knowledge ( 31 ).

Therefore, fully developed potentials of new media, especially WeChat, can promote population of public health knowledge and public health behaviors to some extent.

First, relevant departments need to focus on public demands: implementing refined dissemination of health information by using new media. In the age of new media centered at network communication, the primary thing is to have public demands for information acquisition in terms of health knowledge to stimulate public attention, which in turn makes knowledge formation and memory ability prominent ( 32 ). Therefore, public demands become the primary concern in the communication of public health information. In various new media platforms, each audience can be the receiver and communicator of health information. New media communication is conducive to meet public demands for personalization and social interaction and establish a relation network for health information communication ( 33 ).

Second, the quality of public health knowledge needs to be improved: optimizing reliability of information by using new media. Compared with field education of health knowledge, professionalism and scientific value of online health information are core concerns during the acquisition and absorption of health information ( 34 ). To optimize the communication contents of health knowledge on new media, such as WeChat, professional teams with health backgrounds have to assure the authenticity and scientific value of online health knowledge. New media breaks space-time restraints, so it can organize a professional health operation team more quickly and more extensively than traditional media, and also acquire participation and support from various professional medical organizations. It also can cater to public demands for health information. Mastery of mainstream direction during information promotion by using new media and positive optimization of existing information to improve matching degree between information and audience continuously.

Third, new media have to promote public health behaviors: popularizing the health management philosophy by using new media. Guiding the public to develop a health philosophy and form independent health management consciousness is an effective way to promote positive attitude toward health behaviors. According to the practices of health management philosophy of the public, setting up individual network health management system by using new media and improving individual use of health information library are beneficial to realize “point-to-point” guidance and intervention of health behaviors.

Media play an increasingly important role in health knowledge communication and intervention with its continuous development and updating. Media can improve health consciousness of the public and promote public health behaviors. Thus, these communication platforms are beneficial to national economic development and social stability.

To explore the influencing factors and mechanisms of individual health behaviors, this study constructs a model to study the relationship between new media use and health behaviors in context of the current media society. Corresponding research hypotheses are proposed and verified by conducting SEM analysis through empirical studies. According to the results of theoretical and empirical studies, some conclusions could be drawn: 1) the use of new media like WeChat has positive effects on individual health behaviors; 2) these positive effects mainly generate indirect influence through the mediated variable of health knowledge; and 3) the degree of individuals’ trust in online health knowledge can mediate these positive effects to some extent.

Accordingly, we believe that the fully development of potentials of new media, especially WeChat, can promote public communication of health information and public health behaviors to some extent. To verify the influence of media use on health behaviors, this study chooses young groups as research respondents for convenience. Future studies can also expand the scope of samples to gain further persuasive research conclusions.

Ethical considerations

Ethical issues (Including plagiarism, Informed Consent, misconduct, data fabrication and/or falsification, double publication and/or submission, redundancy, etc.) have been completely observed by the authors.

Acknowledgements

The study was supported by the Zhejiang Great Humanities & Social Science Project for Universities and Colleges (No.2016QN041) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Provincial Universities of Zhejiang Province, China (No. GK199900299012-221).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests.

The impact of ownership on media content : An exploratory case study of Nation Media Group and Standard Newspaper Group; Kenya

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• Social Media Management
• Review Management

Top 3 Social Media Case Studies to Inspire You in 2024

Discover three successful case studies on social media marketing from top brands and learn how to create one. Benefit from their strategies and mistakes to ensure the success of your next campaign.

Social media is every marketer’s safe haven for branding and marketing.

And why not?

More than 50% of the population is active on social media, and more are signing up with every passing second.

In a recent poll by HubSpot, 79% of the respondents have made a purchase after seeing a paid advertisement on social media .

This isn’t just a happenstance.

It’s the constant efforts that these brands put behind their dynamic presence on social media, that counts.

But how do they captivate their customers’ attention for this long despite the budding competitors?

Well, that’s something that we’ll reveal in this blog.

We shall assess 3 different case studies on social media marketing by top brands who are best in their niches. Their game is simple yet effective.

How effective? Let’s take a look.

Social Media Case Study 1: Starbucks

Starbucks and social media are a match made in heaven. Being one of the sensational brands online, they are stirring the social media world with their strong presence.

They brew the right content to elevate the experiences of their coffee lovers. But how do they nail marketing with perfection every single time? Let’s find out.

Starbucks in Numbers

Starbucks mastered the advertising transition from offline fame to online undertaking. They use each social media with a varied goal to target pitch-perfect reach. Drawing in more customers than ever before, they strike the right balance in content across multiple platforms.

Key Takeaways

Though not every company has a Starbucks budget to promote and spend lavishly on social media marketing, here are some quick takeaways that will undoubtedly help.

1. Chasing Trends

Be it any event, brands must take the advantage to showcase their viewpoints and opinions. Successful brands like Starbucks jump into the bandwagon and leave no stone unturned to make their voice count in the trending list.

Here’s one such social media campaign example from Starbucks.

Starbucks is a firm believer in LGBTQ+ rights. When the pride wave surged, Starbucks came forward and reinstated its belief through the #ExtraShotOfPride campaign.

Starbucks joined hands with the Born This Way Foundation to raise $250K to support the LGBTQ+ community. Throughout the social media campaign, they shared quotes and stories of various Starbucks employees cherishing the pride spirit.

2. Less is More

Social media is not about quantity but quality. Starbucks follows the “less is more” principle to maintain the quality standards, even in the caption. Spamming followers’ feeds with constant posting is a big no-no. Starbucks shares 5-6 posts per week on Instagram and 3-4 weekly posts on Facebook .

Creative and crisp! That’s what defines a Starbucks caption. This post with 111+k likes is no exception. Nothing is better than a minimalist post with a strong caption.

3. User Generated Content is the King

Ditch the worry of creating content every day when you can make use of user generated content. Starbucks makes sure to retweet or post its loyal customers’ content. User generated content postings starkly improve brand credibility.

Look at this Facebook post made out of customers’ tweets. The new Oatmilk drink got the appreciation shower by some, and Starbucks couldn’t resist but share it with others. It saved them efforts on content brainstorming, plus they got free PR.

4. Building Rapport

Building rapport with the audience is an unsaid rule to brand fame. Social media has now taken the onus of dispensing quality service by aiding brands in prompting faster replies .

Starbucks is always on its toe to respond to customers actively solving concerns, expressing gratitude, or reposting. That kind of proactive service definitely deserves love and adoration.

5. Loads of campaigns

Starbucks is known for its innovative social media campaigns. Be it a new product launch or any festivity around the corner, Starbucks always turns up with a rewarding campaign.

In this social media campaign example, Starbucks introduced #RedCupContest with prizes worth $4500 during Christmas of 2016. A new entry came every 14 seconds.

The grand total of entries was a whopping 40,000 in just two days. Indeed Starbucks knows how to get the most out of the festive fever.

6. Content mix

Last but not least, the content mix of Starbucks is inspiring. They create tailored content for every platform.

The official youtube channel of Starbucks comprises content in varied hues. From recipes to even series, Starbucks is the ultimate pioneer of experimenting.

Even on Instagram, they use all the features like Guides, Reels, and IGTV without affecting their eye-popping feed. Starbucks also follows the design consistency for its aesthetic content mix.

Starbucks has proved time and again to be a customer-centric brand with their unrelenting efforts.

Social Media Case Study 2: Ogilvy & Mather

Ogilvy & Mather needs no introduction. Founded by David Ogilvy, the ‘Father of Advertising’ in 1948, the agency continues the legacy of revolutionizing marketing long before the advent of social media.

The iconic agency helps several Fortune 500 companies and more make a massive impact on their audiences worldwide.

Ogilvy & Mather knows its game too well and never fails to astonish. Not just high-profile clients, Ogilvy nails its marketing with perfection every single time.

Keep on reading.

Ogilvy & Mather in Numbers

They use social media to target pitch-perfect reach. Drawing in more hype than ever before, they know how to strike the right balance and bring out emotions with their heart-warming campaigns.

Not every company has David Ogilvy’s legacy or even affluent clients to boast of, but here are some quick takeaways that will undoubtedly help you become a pro marketer.

1. Integrating Values

Ogilvy stands apart from the crowd, creating trends. They leave no stone unturned to communicate values.

Proud Whopper is one such social media campaign by Ogilvy that was an instant hit on the internet. People were offered whoppers in rainbow-colored wrappers, with a note that said, “Everyone’s the same on the inside.” This was to reinstate the importance of LGTQ+ rights.

The campaign got 1.1 billion impressions, $21 million of earned media, 450,000 blog mentions, 7 million views, and became the #1 trending topic on Facebook and Twitter.

Ogilvy made a remarkable #Tbt video to honor this momentous event showcasing their supremacy in creating impactful campaigns.

2. Quality over Quantity

Ogilvy believes in the “ Quality supremacy ” to maintain their high standards, even in post captions.

Arbitrary posting isn’t a part of their agenda. They share 5-7 posts on Instagram and Facebook weekly.

Direct and very precise. That’s what defines an Ogilvy caption. This post is no exception. They have exhibited the success of their client work by describing the motive behind the campaign and sharing the ad they created for raising awareness.

3. Adding Credibility

Won awards? It’s time to boast! Because that’s the most authentic way of establishing trust among your clients. It bears proof of your excellence.

Look at this pinned Twitter post. Ogilvy won the Global Network of the Year by the very prestigious London International Awards. It also earned Regional Network of the year for Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Europe.

What better than this to give its audience an idea about Ogilvy’s roaring success and undoubted potential?

4. Being Innovative

Building rapport with the audience is an unsaid rule to brand fame. And that’s why you need to tell stories. Social media has become an indispensable medium to spread your stories far and wide.

Ogilvy shares its historical tale of existence and how it has adapted to the challenges of the changing world. The team extensively talks about their adaptation to the latest trends to stay on top always.

5. Brainstorming Uniqueness

Being unique is what propels you on social media. People are always looking for brands that do something different from the herd. So your task each day is undeniably brainstorming unique content.

KFC wanted more of its customers to use its app. Well, Ogilvy and KFC decided to hide a secret menu in the app, which was a mass invitation for the download without being salesy at all. Results? Downloads up by 111% at launch!

6. Inspire Your Peeps

Inspiration is everywhere. But how do you channelize and mold it as per your brand guidelines? The renowned brands move their audience, filling them with a sense of realization. Who doesn’t seek validation? We all need quotes and inspiration to live by.

Ogilvy has dedicated its entire Pinterest profile to inspiration. The profile has numerous insightful infographics that encourage you to pursue marketing when your spirits run low. And that’s how it brings out the very essence of being the marketing leader: by inspiring its followers.

Got some good ideas for your branding? We have created templates and tools to help you execute them hassle-free. Tread on further and download the Trending Hashtag Kit for 2024 to get into action.

Social Media Case Study 3: PewDiePie

YouTube king with 111 Million subscribers on PewDiePie Channel, Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, has defied all norms. One of the most prolific content creators of the decade, Felix was on the list of World’s 100 Most Influential People by Time Magazine in 2016.

Needless to say, he is still relevant to this day and has a massive following on social media. Not just for branding, the Swedish YouTuber leveraged social media to give himself a new identity and opened doors to fame and a successful career.

What was the cause of this extraordinary trajectory?

Let’s find out.

PewDiePie in Numbers

PewDiePie likes to keep his social media raw and unfiltered. That’s why subscribers love to have a glimpse of his everyday life and follow him on other social media platforms as well. Here’s a quick snapshot of that.

Felix took the early bird advantage and started creating content when it wasn’t even popular practice. We can’t go back in time, but we can definitely learn a lot from his social media success.

1. Start Now

If you are still skeptical about making the first move, then don’t. Stop waiting and experiment. It’s better late than never.

Social media is in favor of those who start early because then you create surplus content to hold your audience . You quench their thirst for more quality content.

PewDiePie started creating videos in 2011 and live-streamed his gaming sessions with commentaries. It was something new and completely original. Ever since, he has continued to make thousands of videos that entertain his audience.

2. Gather Your Tribe

Being a content creator, PewDiePie knows his act of engaging his audience very well. He strives to build lasting connections and encourages two-way communication. As a result, his followers like to jump onto his exciting challenges.

Felix treasures his gaming community. He frequently asks his followers to take screenshots and turn them into funny memes . He gives them tasks to keep them engaged and amused .

3. Collaboration and Fundraising

Once you reach the stage and gain popularity, people want to see more of you with their favorite personalities. That’s what Felix does.

He collaborates with multiple YouTubers and brands and puts out exclusive content for his followers. He also goes for multiple fundraising campaigns to support vital causes and social wellbeing.

Here’s one such social media campaign example. PewDiePie supported the CRY foundation and raised $239000 in just one day to bring a positive impact for children in India. He thanked all for their contribution and taking active participation towards a noble cause.

4. Keep it Real

Felix likes to keep his content fluff-free. You get to witness raw emotions from an unfiltered life. This instantly appeals to the audience and makes the posts more relatable .

Apart from that, he also uses storytelling techniques to narrate his experiences, adding a very personalized touch to each of the videos.

Here’s a video of Felix where he and Ken from CinnamonToastKen discuss what can be possibly done with a million dollars around the world. The topic is quite intriguing.

More than 3.8M people have watched it and 216K of them liked it as well, proving that you need not always sweat to create complex content. Even the simplest ones can make the cut.

How to Write a Social Media Marketing Case Study

Many small businesses struggle when it comes to social media marketing. But guess what? Small businesses can slay the competition with a powerful tool: A case study on social media.

These social media case studies are success stories that prove your hustle is paying off. Here’s how to weave a case study that showcases your small business wins:

Building Your Brag Book

• Pick Your Perfect Project:  Did a specific social media campaign drive a surge in sales? Highlight a product launch that went viral. Choose a project with impressive results you can showcase.
• DIY Interview:  Don’t have a fancy marketing team? No worries! Record yourself talking about your challenges, goals, and the strategies that made a difference.
• Data Dive:  Track down social media analytics! Look for growth in followers, website traffic driven by social media, or engagement metrics that show your efforts are working.

Now that you have all the ingredients, it’s time to cook a brilliant case study

Crafting Your Case Study

• Headline Hunt:  Grab attention with a clear and concise headline. Mention your business name and a key achievement (e.g., “From 100 to 10,000 Followers: How We Grew Our Bakery’s Social Buzz”).
• Subheading Scoop:  Briefly summarize your success story in a subheading, piquing the reader’s interest and highlighting key takeaways.
• The Business Struggle:  Be honest about the challenges you faced before tackling social media. This will build trust and allow other small businesses to connect.
• DIY Social Strategies:  Share the social media tactics you used, such as engaging content formats, community-building strategies, or influencer collaborations.
• Numbers Don’t Lie:  Integrate data and visuals to support your story. Include charts showcasing follower growth or screenshots of top-performing posts.
• Simple & Straightforward:  Use clear, concise language that’s easy to understand. Bullet points and short paragraphs make your case study digestible and showcase your professionalism.

Remember: Your social media marketing case studies are a chance to celebrate your achievements and build businesses. So, tell your story with pride, showcase your data-driven results, and watch your brand recognition soar

Social media campaigns are winning hearts on every platform. However, their success rates largely depend on your year-round presence. That’s why being consistent really does the trick.

To excel further at your social media marketing, use our FREE Trending Hashtag Kit and fill your calendar with everyday content ideas.

On downloading, you get 3000+ hashtags based on each day’s theme or occasion. You also get editable design templates for hassle-free social media posting.

What are you waiting for? Download now.

Frequently Asked Questions

🌟 How do I start a social media campaign idea?

Here’s how you can start a social media campaign:

• Finalize your campaign goals
• Brainstorm personas
• Pick a social media channel
• Research your competitors and audience
• Finalize an idea that’s in trend
• Promote the campaign
• Start the campaign
• Track the performance

🌟 What are the different types of social media campaigns?

Different types of social media campaigns are:

• Influencer Campaigns
• Hashtag Challenges

🌟 Why is social media campaign important?

Social media campaigns have various benefits:

• Boost traffic
• Better Conversions
• Cost-effective Marketing
• Lead Generation
• PR & Branding
• Loyal Followers

🌟 What are some of the best social media campaign tools?

Some of the best social media campaign tools are:

• SocialPilot

🌟 What are the top social media sites?

The top social media sites are:

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A case study on ageism during the COVID-19 pandemic

From: Federal/Provincial/Territorial Ministers Responsible for Seniors Forum

On this page

List of abbreviations, list of figures, list of tables, participating governments, acknowledgements, executive summary and policy recommendations, 1. introduction, 2. research questions, 3. methodology, 5. summary of findings, 6. policy recommendations, 7. limitations, annex 1: selection of documents, annex 2: keywords used for the search, annex 3: list of documents, alternate formats.

A case study on ageism during the COVID-19 pandemic [ PDF - 2.3 MB ]

Large print, braille, MP3 (audio), e-text and DAISY formats are available on demand by ordering online or calling 1 800 O-Canada (1-800-622-6232). If you use a teletypewriter ( TTY ), call 1-800-926-9105.

Centres d’hébergement et de soins de longue durée

Coronavirus disease of 2019

Extracorporeal life support

Fédération de l'âge d'or du Québec

Federal, provincial and territorial

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (or questioning)

Long term care

Older adults

Personal care homes

Personal protective equipment

Figure 1: Themes and subthemes from the media discourse

Figure 2: Media discourse themes

Figure 3: Media discourse subthemes

Figure 4: Themes and subthemes from academic discourse

Figure 5: Academic discourse themes

Figure 6: Academic discourse subthemes

Figure 7: Themes and subthemes from the older adult discourse

Figure 8: Older adult discourse themes

Figure 9: Older adult discourse subthemes

Figure 10: Themes and subthemes from the press briefings

Figure 11: Press briefing discourse themes

Figure 12: Press briefing discourse subthemes

Figure 13: Themes and subthemes from the ministry or the department of communications

Figure 14: Ministry or department communications discourse themes

Figure 15: Ministry or department communication discourse subthemes

Table 1: Age reference by number of media articles

Table 2: Description of aging by number of academic articles

Table 3: Age reference by number of press briefings

Table 4: Age reference by number of ministry or department communications

Table 5: Summary of main findings

• Government of Ontario
• Government of Quebec*
• Government of Nova Scotia
• Government of New Brunswick
• Government of Manitoba
• Government of British Columbia
• Government of Prince Edward Island
• Government of Saskatchewan
• Government of Alberta
• Government of Newfoundland and Labrador
• Government of Northwest Territories
• Government of Yukon
• Government of Nunavut
• Government of Canada

*Québec contributes to the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Seniors Forum by sharing expertise, information and best practices. However, it does not subscribe to, or take part in, integrated federal, provincial, and territorial approaches to older adults. The Government of Québec intends to fully assume its responsibilities for older adults in Québec.

Prepared by Dr. Martine Lagacé, Dr. Tracey O’Sullivan, Pascale Dangoisse, Amélie Doucet, Amanda Mac, and Samantha Oostlander of the University of Ottawa, for the Federal, Provincial and Territorial (FPT) Forum of Ministers Responsible for Seniors. The views expressed in this report may not reflect the official position of a particular jurisdiction.

• Canadian older adults Footnote 1 were particularly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with over 80% of the COVID-19 related deaths during the first wave occurring in long-term care homes. The situation generated substantial media coverage, as well as government communications and academic research
• Understanding how older adults and the aging process were framed during this health crisis is important because the public discourse can have a significant influence on an individual’s personal experience of aging and relationships with older adults. Previous studies have shown that ageist stereotypes and attitudes are often conveyed through public discourse
• The current study aims to understand how older adults and the process of aging were depicted by the Canadian media, academics, older adults (associations of older adults), as well as government representatives themselves through the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic

There are 2 main questions that guided this work: 

• how did ageism emerge as an issue during the COVID-19 pandemic in the media, research, among older adults, associations of older adults and Federal, Provincial and Territorial (FPT) governments’ communications?
• how did the media, researchers, older adults, associations of older adults, and FPT governments contribute to, or address ageist attitudes, behaviours or discourse?
• To answer these questions, researchers conducted a content analysis of Canadian public documents related to COVID-19 and older adults, published from April to December 2020. These public documents included opinion-editorials (authored by journalists or older adults or associations of older adults), academic articles, and government communications (press briefings and communications generated by Federal, Provincial and Territorial ministries and departments)
• In total, 110 documents were analyzed across the 4 different types of public discourse: 20 media articles, 10 academic papers, 20 papers authored by older adults or associations of older adults, and 60 FPT government communications. Documents were selected over 3 time periods during 2020: (1) April; (2) mid-September to mid-October; and (3) early December Footnote 2
• Content analysis was conducted to align with the research questions as well as findings from previous studies
• The results of this analysis show that ageism was raised as an issue throughout the 4 types of discourses, in 1 of 2 ways, either contributing to ageism or criticizing ageism (as illustrated in Table 5 )
• Discourse messaging framed older adults as “victims” in 50% to 88% of all the communications reviewed. Further, the aging process was described as a process of “loss” in the majority of communications produced by the media, the academics, older adults (and associations of older adults) and governments. Communications produced by older adults themselves were the least likely to associate aging (their own aging however) with loss
• Academics criticized ageism and recognized the negative impact of ageism on mental health, social isolation, and access to care, as well as its impact on other forms of discrimination (such as, sexism and racism)
• Older adults and associations of older adults also criticized ageism and recognize its negative impact, however they mostly focused on healthy older adults who lived independently within their own homes/communities, not older adults residing in long term care
• Diverse strengths of older adults – and their contributions to society – were rarely acknowledged, with the exception of older adults communications. In this case however, the diversity of strengths was attributed to healthy older adults
• In general, similar themes and arguments were made throughout the data sources regarding the neglect in long-term care and the importance of caring and protecting older adults during the pandemic
• Similarly to other types of discourse, the media emphasized the vulnerability of older adults living in long term care facilities and the values of protecting them. However, few media articles gave a voice to these older adults (through interviews, for example) 
• The importance of conducting more research with Indigenous Elders was underlined by academics
• Press briefings and ministry or government communications from the territories made some  references to the important roles and contributions of Indigenous Elders
• While the 4 domains of employment, health and healthcare, social inclusion, and safety and security were identified in all data sources (except government press briefings), the most prominent domain was health and healthcare
• The following policy recommendations are based on the findings from this case study of 110 documents (media articles, academic articles, articles written by older adults or their associations, and government communications)
• Editing of all press briefings and media should be screened to ensure the language used is inclusive and non-ageist. For instance, aging should not be portrayed uniquely as a process of loss; older adults should not be viewed as victims or vulnerable people only in need of protection and care. This important editing includes confirmation that the communication is balanced and recognizes the capacities and contributions of older adults that support pandemic response and resilience
• Building a society that recognizes the importance of listening to the voices of older adults is key. The pandemic has brought older adults into the conversation in a way not typically seen. Older adults are now visible and they have something new to bring to the table: criticizing ageism and providing a heterogenous view of older adults
• The absence of references to Indigenous Elders in different types of communications raises some concerns. Communications should be inclusive, and investments should be made to understand how Indigenous Elders are framed in widespread communication and to what extent and how they experience ageism, through an intersectional lens
• The positive references to Indigenous Elders can serve as inspiration for learning how to address ageism across all communities

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a tremendous impact on older adults in Canada, from every facet, be it physical, psychological or social. People living in long-term care homes have been particularly impacted, with more than 80% of the COVID-19 related deaths during the first wave of the pandemic, occurring in these facilities (Royal Society of Canada, 2020). The pandemic generated significant media coverage, government communications, and research from academics. Public discourse (such as, media coverage, government communication) has the power to shape social representations, create norms and expectations that influence personal experience. It is important to examine how the resulting public discourse stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic impacted older adults. Research completed prior to the pandemic demonstrated that public discourse towards older adults contributes directly and inadvertently to ageist stereotypes and attitudes.

Ageism refers to how we think (stereotypes), feel (prejudice) and act (discrimination) towards others or ourselves based on age. It can target younger and older individuals. The focus of the current project is on ageism towards older adults, expressed in different ways, as explained in the following:

Ageism can be hostile when, for example, an aging population is depicted as a real threat to the economy and a burden to the health care system. An example of hostile ageism is the infamous hashtag “#BoomerRemover” that was conveyed on social media at the beginning of the pandemic. 

Ageism can be compassionate. In this type of communication, older adults are portrayed as frail and vulnerable and in need of help; not being able to make decisions and having no self-agency. This type of ageism is often seen in the context of caregiving. Although its purpose is to provide help and support, it conveys the idea that all older adults are vulnerable and does not recognize diversity within an age group, which paves the way for patronizing attitudes.

Ageism can also be expressed through intergenerational and intragenerational comparisons. Intergenerational ageism relates to competition or scarcity of resources (that is., the health care system is over-burdened due to an aging population). Intragenerational ageism relates to competition or comparisons between older adults themselves (for example, older adults that are healthy and fit may want to dissociate, or not be identified, with older adults that are facing health challenges).

It is worth noting that compassionate as well as intergenerational or intragenerational ageism are often expressed unconsciously in an implicit or covert manner. On the other hand, hostile ageism is usually expressed explicitly or overtly , that is, consciously.

Studying ageism during the pandemic is important, to gather concrete data to measure its existence. The pandemic, its deadly impact, and the policies and actions put in place to manage it, all appeared to have exacerbated discrimination against older adults. To confirm this fact, examples of ageism need to be identified, examined and measured, to develop policies and legislation to address ageism.

This report examines how older adults, as well as aging as a process, were depicted by the Canadian media, academics, government representatives and older adults themselves through the first and second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The following data sources were used to examine the 2 research questions:

• media articles (20 published articles)
• academic research (10 published papers)
• older adults or associations of older adults who have written on this issue (20 published articles)
• FPT government communications (60 press briefings or ministries and department documents)

In this section

3.1 selection of documents, 3.2 analysis of documents.

To answer the research questions mentioned above, content analysis of Canadian public documents related to COVID-19 and older adults that were published from April to December 2020, was conducted. These public documents included media op-eds (authored by journalists or older adults or associations of older adults), academic articles, and government communications (press briefings and communications generated by Federal, Provincial and Territorial ministries and departments).

Geography and time were used as sampling criteria for the 110 documents included in the study as outlined below. More specifically, media articles, academic articles and articles written by older adults were limited to Canadian authors and sources. Government communications included all 13 provinces and territories and the Government of Canada. More so, documents published in April, mid-September to mid-October and early December were randomly selected. These time intervals align with turning points for the COVID-19 health crisis in Canada Footnote 3 .

Annexes 1 and 2 to this report summarize the sampling approach, as well as key words used to select the document for analysis.

After selection of the documents, a coding grid was developed with the following categories:

• what are the main themes and subthemes? Main themes relate to the central concept of the document, the primary question or issue being addressed. Subthemes focus on notable specific elements of the themes?
• what are the main arguments?
• is ageism being discussed or criticized as an issue (in an implicit or explicit way)?
• do documents contribute to ageism, that is, reflect ageist attitudes (implicitly or explicitly)?
• Implicit attitudes were defined as negative thoughts, feelings or beliefs about older people without the authors seeming to directly promote or endorse age discrimination. Implicit ageism is usually indirect and covert. An example of implicit ageism would be associating the aging of a  population with a burden on the economy
• Explicit attitudes were defined as direct statements that represent thoughts, feelings or beliefs about older people that are conscious and made overtly. Hostile ageism reflects explicit ageist attitudes. The hashtag #BoomerRemover that appeared on social media in the early days of the pandemic is an example of explicit ageism
• are there references to specific chronological age (or age range)?
• it is important to note how older age was referred to throughout the documents, to pinpoint whether discriminatory content was focused on a specific age group, and which age groups were impacted the most by this discourse
• how is aging, as a process, described or referred to (loss, gain, both, neither)?
• are there references to older adults’ contribution(s) to society?
• are challenges or potential costs posed by aging or older adults mentioned?
• how are older adults portrayed in regards to other groups?
• what is the role of older adults during the pandemic (victims; fighters; neither; both)?
• domain categorization (employment; health and health care; social inclusion; safety and security)?
• are Indigenous Elders mentioned?

The next section presents the main findings of the content analysis, according to the 4 types of discourse: media, academic, older adult, and government.

4.1 The media discourse (n=20)

4.2 the academic discourse (n=10), 4.3 the older adult (associations of older adults) discourse (n=20).

• 4.4 Government communication discourse (n=60)

The findings relating to the media discourse are based on an analysis of 20 articles from 3 sources Footnote 4 : The Globe and Mail (n=7); The National Post (n=7); and La Presse (n=6). The sample of communications included both French (n=6) and English (n=14) articles. The main themes and subthemes within the media, as well as the answers to the main study questions for this data type are presented below.

Figure 1 depicts the main themes and subthemes for the media discourse. The main themes are shown in blue, with subthemes shown underneath in orange.

The following themes and subthemes emerged from the media discourse:

• neglect in LTC:
• need to improve the health care system
• ageism (implicit)
• vaccine roll-out
• government policies and communications:
• politicians
• social, economic, and cultural changes from the pandemic:
• economic challenges posed by the pandemic
• online gaming:
• how to spend time during COVID
• child care:
• better child care is needed
• disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 within society:
• social inclusion
• severity of impact  on developing countries

Main themes: Media

Nine main themes were identified in the media articles. The most salient theme in the media was Neglect in long term care ; this theme occurs in 8 (out of 20) articles. The other themes occurred in 1 to 3 articles (out of 20) and are presented in Figure 2 below.

Subthemes: Media

Seven subthemes were identified in the media analysis. The need to improve the health care system was a subtheme within 9 (of the 20) media articles. Other subthemes are presented in Figure 3 below.

Main arguments: Media

The media analyses also identified main arguments presented in the 20 articles. One of the arguments focused on the need to take better care of older adults. One of the lessons from the pandemic is that society is not treating older adults ethically, and more investment (that is, resources, money, time, etc.) is needed to address this problem. Most articles focused on older adults living in long-term care homes, with little or no mention of older adults living within their own homes. The following 3 quotations provide examples of this argument:

“It is the elderly who are especially vulnerable. Mortality rates for old people are the highest. That was painfully seen in our long-term care facilities. It is not an "old person's disease," but the old are most susceptible to its full force. The elderly were also more exposed in another sense. During the lockdown, those who caught the virus were kept in isolation. Even their closest family members were kept away from them in their dying days. Those who did not contract the illness were also kept in isolation, for fear of catching it from a family member. Some circumstances were akin to an updated tale from Charles Dickens' pathos-filled pen. I know of one 96 year old who was unable to be visited by his 93-year-old wife. The very worst and most emotional time to be alone was the very time they were forced to be alone.”

(Rex Murphy, National Post, October 14th, 2020.)

“ Ce manque de préparation, ce manque d'expertise, fait partie de l'équation quand on voit à quel point les CHSLD – et les résidences pour personnes âgées – ont été des foyers d'éclosion qui s'apparentent à des incendies de forêt. ”

(Patrick Lagacé. (2020, April 10). CHSLD, les brasiers. La Presse+, ACTUALITÉS_4.)

Translation: [This unpreparedness and lack of expertise are part of the equation when we see how many CHSLDs Footnote 7 and retirement residences accounted for outbreaks that spread like forest fires.]

“ How is it possible, in 2020, in Canada, that elders entrusted to a licensed care home can be treated worse than dogs at the city pound? How is it conceivable that vulnerable seniors – some with dementia and severe mobility issues – could be left to fend for themselves?”

(André Picard, Globe and Mail, April 1st, 2020: Opinion.)

Is ageism being discussed or criticized as an issue (in an implicit or explicit way): Media

The media analysis revealed 1 explicit example of ageism being discussed, and 4 implicit examples. Interestingly, the word ‘ageism’ is not used, nor is its impact generally discussed. However, its negative impact in terms of poor health and neglect of older adults is acknowledged; in other words, the ‘ cause à effet ’ is not clearly stated. Some examples are presented below.

Explicit  “ Il serait donc apprécié de cesser de nous considérer comme des « pestiférés » potentiels alors que nous sommes en pleine forme et en pleine santé! ”

(Serge Loriaux. (2020, December 31). Changer de « cible ». La Presse+, débats_1, DÉBATS_5.)

Translation: [We would therefore appreciate no longer being treated as pariahs when we are fit and healthy.]

Implicit “It may be an exaggeration to say Canada's approach to long-term care consists of warehousing the old and: infirm, but we have certainly let standards decline to a point we should be ashamed to acknowledge.”

Does the document contribute to ageism, that is, reflects ageist attitudes (implicitly or explicitly): Media

The media analysis yielded mixed results to the question of whether the media contributes to ageism by reflecting ageist attitudes. Of the 20 media articles, 11 did not contribute to ageism, 8 could be regarded as perpetuating ageist attitudes, and 1 was not classified either way. The following quotation is an example of an article that did contribute to ageism, emphasizing on the deficits (physical, psychological and social) of all older adults in care homes and on their vulnerability.   

“By their very nature, people in care homes aren't able to create the sort of noise required to attract the attention of governments. They are old people, confined to their beds, or dependent on walkers or wheelchairs to get around. They aren't great at social networking, crowdsourcing or virtual campaigning. They are largely dependent on others, either relatives, medical professionals or care staff, for basic needs. Many of them, given the chance, would selflessly insist they don't want to be a bother or a burden.”

(NP View: The COVID-19 crisis has exposed Canada’s shameful treatment of its elderly. (2020, April 17). National Post (Online).)

Are there references to specific chronological age (or age range): Media

Eleven out of 20 media articles did not refer to a specific age range or chronological age, when referring to older adults. There is variety among the other articles where age was mentioned, as can be seen in the following table; the first column shows the age groups represented in the media, and the second column indicates the frequency of articles that used that age grouping.

How is aging, as a process, described or referred to (loss; gain; both; neither): Media

Thirteen out of 20 articles described aging in terms of loss, with references to older adults as the most vulnerable population who are dependent on care. There was 1 exception of an article where the aging process was framed as a gain, referring to active, capable older adults. Two articles referred to aging in a more balanced way (gain and loss), describing older active people going to concerts, but also older people who are ‘warehoused for profit’. Finally, 4 of the articles framed the aging process as neither a gain or loss.

Are there references to older adults’ contribution(s) to society: Media

Of the 20 media articles analyzed, 3 described in vague terms the contributions of older adults to society, in terms of their knowledge or resilience. However, 1 article was particularly positive in its reference to older adults as providing a contribution to society.

“There is no question that Canadians as individuals love and respect those who brought them into the world, raised them and fashioned a society founded in peace, prosperity and mutual respect.”

Are challenges or potential costs posed by aging or older adults mentioned: Media

Of the 20 media articles analyzed, 5 mentioned the increased economic cost or burden of an ageing society on the health care system. The following is an excerpt from an article discussing child care in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the article stresses the importance of turning to a “caring economy” to better care for the young and the old, it emphasizes the costs of an aging population:

“Even without a pandemic, Canada was looking at decades of slow growth, the impact of population aging.”… “As we head into an era of slowth (slow or no growth) owing to population aging, the smallest working-age cohort in 50 years will need all the help it can get”. 

(Pandemic realities offer hope of new approach to child care: Opinion. (Globe and Mail, 2020, September 26).)

How are older adults being positioned in relation to other groups: Media

The media analysis explored how older adults are positioned in relation to other age groups. Of the 20 media articles analyzed, 9 did not position older adults in relation to other groups, and the question was not applicable in 7 of the articles. However, 4 positioned older adults against younger generations, or made comparisons between them. The following quotations are examples from the articles that positioned older adults in relation to younger age groups.

“ On est tous d'accord que les effets indirects de la pandémie sur les jeunes sont sérieux. Mais ce n'est pas en exacerbant ses effets directs sur les aînés qu'on les réglera . ”

(Philippe Mercure. (2020, October 17). Les gens vulnérables ne vivent pas dans les nuages. La Presse+, DÉBATS_1, DÉBATS_3.)

Translation: [There is a general consensus that the pandemic’s indirect effects on youth are serious. But amplifying its direct effects on older adults will not mitigate these indirect effects.]

“ Des grands-parents qui jouent avec leurs petits-enfants, mais aussi des aînés qui jouent en club. Et ce sont loin d'être les personnes les plus polies en ligne! Ils se sentent comme au bistro! ”

(Pierre-Marc Durivage. (2020, April 30). Boom des plateformes de jeu virtuel. La Presse (site web).)

Translation: [There are grandparents playing with their grandchildren, but also seniors playing as a club. And they are not the most polite people online! They’re behaving as if they were in a pub!]

“However, “we're all in this together” doesn't ring quite true when you take cognizance of this division, this two-tiered impact of COVID. There needs to be something a little beyond words to give that rally cry force.”

(Murphy, R. (2020, October 14). The full impact of Covid is not borne by all, National Post.)

What is the role of older adults during the pandemic (victims; fighters; neither; both): Media

Message framing can influence ageist attitudes. Therefore, one part of this media analysis was an exploration of how older adults were presented in various roles. More specifically, this media analysis investigated whether older adults were:

• framed in terms of being victims
• framed as fighting back or resisting any challenges imposed by the pandemic
• neither of these perspectives
• both as victims and fighters

While 4 articles did not present older adults in any of these roles, 1 media article (out of 20) presented older adults as fighters, stating

“how many older adults are very aware of health measures and are very capable of following them.”

Domain categorization (employment; health and health care; social inclusion; safety and security): Media

Not surprisingly, the domain represented most in the media articles throughout the time periods covered was health and health care (n=15). Social inclusion was represented in (n=3) articles, employment (n=1), and safety and security (n=1).

Are Indigenous Elders mentioned: Media

Just 1 media article of the 20 reviewed mentioned Indigenous peoples. When mentioned, it was in combination with the key words “older adults” and “Covid-19”. The following quotations are from that article.

“But thorny questions will arise, such as: Who is an essential worker? Public Safety Canada actually has a list, but it's as long as your arm. Grocery store workers? Teachers? Police officers? Truckers? Family caregivers? How do you choose among them? What about people living with homelessness? Indigenous peoples ? COVID-19 has hit racialized and low-income populations hardest. How do we ensure that the inequities exposed by the pandemic are not perpetuated in the vaccine rollout?”

(Picard, A. (2020, December 8). Why we can ignore anti-vaxxers right now: Opinion. The Globe and Mail, A11.)

The findings related to the academic data are based on an analysis of 10 papers published in peer reviewed journals and written by Canadian scholars over the time periods targeted for this report. Eight papers are published in English, and 2 in French. The following section presents the main themes and subthemes within the academic discourse, as well as the answers to the main study questions for this data source.

Figure 4 depicts the main themes and subthemes for the academic discourse. The main themes are shown in blue, with subthemes shown underneath in orange.

The following themes and subthemes emerged from the academic discourse:

• care and health:
• health and health care
• media or social media and ageism:
• intergenerational differences
• research priorities for older adults and COVID-19:
• transition from in-person to virtual work environments:
• government strategies

Main themes: Academic

Similar to the media discourse, scholars focused on the theme of Care and Health. This theme was present in 7 of the 10 papers analyzed. The other main themes are presented in Figure 5.

Subthemes: Academic

Seven subthemes were identified in the analysis of academic articles. Health (physical and mental) and health care was the most prevalent subtheme. Other subthemes are presented in Figure 6 below. Footnote 8

Main arguments: Academic

The analysis of academic articles included identification of main arguments presented in the 10 papers. Similar to the media discourse, one of the main arguments focused on the need to do better and do more for older adults, in terms of funding and policies. However, contrary to the media communications, the academic discourse focused less on long term care and tackled issues such as mental health of all older adults (including those not living in long term care facilities), their capacity to be resilient, and finally, the importance of addressing the problem of ageism.

Is ageism being discussed or criticized as an issue (in an implicit or explicit way): Academic

Four papers (out of 10) explicitly addressed the issue of ageism and the need to tackle it. In these papers scholars argue that, amongst other issues that have been magnified, the pandemic has revealed the prevalence of ageism in our society. They further argue that ageism is a correlated factor of the lack of preparation and prevention in terms of pre-pandemic care for older adults, as illustrated in the following quotes.

" La situation actuelle a fait ressortir la nécessité de repenser le statut et le rôle des personnes âgées dans notre société et celle d’examiner spécifiquement l'impact et l'influence de l'âgisme dans la prise de décision et la prestation des soins ."

(Rylett, R. J., Alary, F., Goldberg, J., Rogers, S., & Versteegh, P. (December 1st, 2020). La COVID-19 et les priorités de recherche sur le vieillissement . Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue Canadienne Du Vieillissement , 39(4), 506–512.)

Translation: [The current situation has highlighted the need to rethink the status and role of older adults in our society and to specifically address the impact and influence of ageism in decision-making and the delivery of care.]

“Unfortunately, the wake of COVID-19 has brought a resurgence of hostile messages on social media, even classifying as hate speech, that exhibit ageism against older adults.”

(Meisner, B. June 24th, 2020. Journal of Leisure Science.)

Does the document contribute to ageism, that is, reflects ageist attitudes (implicitly or explicitly): Academic

The majority of academic papers did not contribute to ageist attitudes (n=9). One document that could be regarded as potentially perpetuating ageist attitudes relates to the usage of age as a criteria (following health condition and frailty) when deciding to give critical care in a pandemic context. International scholars have criticized using age as a primary decision making criteria for critical care provision and consider this practice an expression of ageism.

“The number of patients that can be placed on ECLS is small and should be decided on a case-by-case basis. Definite exclusion criteria include age older than 60 years old.”…

(Development of a framework for critical care resource allocation for the COVID-19 pandemic in Saskatchewan (Valiani, S., Terrett, L., Gebhardt, C., Prokopchuk Gauk, O. & Isinger, M. September 1st, 2020, Canadian Medical Association.).)

Are there references to specific chronological age (or age range): Academic

The majority of academic papers made reference to specific chronological age or age range with the exception of one. Reference to age of older adults varied depending on the scholar, ranging from 50 years old to 90 years old. Of note, such variance was not observed in the media documents.

How is aging, as a process, described or referred to (loss; gain; both; neither): Academic

The academic papers offered a more balanced description of the aging process than media articles, as can be seen in the following table:

In cases where the depiction of the aging process refers to both gains and losses, the former seemed to apply solely to active and healthy older adults while losses referred to those living in long term care homes, as illustrated in the examples below.

“  Nous avons tendance à considérer les personnes âgées comme des personnes vulnérables. Cependant, cette perspective est remise en question lorsque nous tenons compte de leurs points de vue, de leur créativité et de leur résilience, et lorsque nous adoptons une optique plus globale, en fonction de laquelle la santé n’est pas le seul élément à prendre en compte, même en temps de pandémie. ”

(Meisner et al., (December 12th, 2020). La nécessité des approches interdisciplinaires et collaboratives pour évaluer l'impact de la COVID-19 sur les personnes âgées et le vieillissement , Joint statement from Canadian Association of Gerontology and The Canadian Journal of Aging.)

Translation: [Our tendency [...] to see older people as vulnerable is challenged when we take notice of their points of view, creativity, and resilience, and when we take a more holistic view that recognizes that there is more than health to think about even during a pandemic.]

“Canadian older adults are highly diverse, and generally healthy, engaged and active…”

(Wister, A., & Speechley, M. (September 9th, 2020). COVID-19: Pandemic Risk, Resilience and Possibilities for Aging Research. Canadian Journal on Aging.)

Are there references to older adults’ contribution(s) to society?: Academic

Of the 10 academic papers analyzed, only 3 spoke to the contributions of older populations, but in a vague manner:

 “What can we learn – both positive and negative – from societies with large proportions of older persons, such as Italy and Japan?”

(Wister, A., & Speechley, M. (September 9th, 2020). COVID-19: Pandemic Risk, Resilience and Possibilities for Aging Research. Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue Canadienne du Vieillissement .)

Of particular interest is 1 paper that indicated that older workers Footnote 9 had an easier time transitioning to a virtual context compared to younger ones because of their experience:

“Maybe - older practicians actually had an easier time than younger ones transitioning to online therapy sessions”

(Békés, V., Doorn, K.A., Prout, T.A, & Hoffman, L. (June 26th, 2020). Stretching the Analytic Frame: Analytic Therapists’ Experiences With Remote Therapy During COVID-19.)

Corporate memory or experience among a workforce is an asset that can support continuity of operations in a disaster. Adapting or transitioning easily is an example of a strength that contributes to organizational resilience. The above quotation about ease in transitioning to online settings is interesting as it counteracts one of the most prevalent stereotypes: that older workers cannot adapt to new technologies.

Are challenges or potential costs posed by aging or older adults mentioned: Academic

Six of the 10 academic papers did not refer to challenges or potential costs posed by aging or older adults. The 4 remaining papers did focus on the burden on health care (physical and mental) generated by an aging population, as illustrated below:

“Yet, most of the funding for health care, including for long-term care public facilities, come from the provinces, which are increasingly struggling to finance health care costs in a context of accelerated population aging…”

(Béland, D., & Marier, P. (July 1st, 2020). Covid-19 and Long Term Care Policy for Older People in Canada. Journal of Aging & Social Policy.)

How are older adults being positioned in regards to other groups: Academic

In 7 out of 10 papers, scholars discussed and criticized the tendency, in popular discourse (especially on social media), to associate and compare older generations to younger generations. They argued that making COVID-19 mainly a “seniors problem” paved the way and legitimized discriminatory attitudes from younger to older generations. In the following quotation, authors critize expressions of hostile and intrageneratioal ageism in the context of the pandemic:

“Although COVID-19 knows no borders, physical or social, it has clearly become an aging-related disease. On the one hand, gerontologists have already become important contributors to COVID-19 knowledge, practice and research. On the other hand, there is a backlash of younger and working populations, fed by media and political hype, who believe that they are less susceptible, and if they do become infected, the symptoms will be less serious than for older populations. […] Some of these views have been articulated as part of the "ok boomer" movement, which has pitted younger and older generations against each other. Other individuals and groups have expressed the view that the COVID-19 pandemic is largely a “seniors problem” and as such should not shut down the economy and society to the level that has occurred. Some politicians have even gone so far as to suggest that older people ought to consider sacrificing themselves for the health of others, including that of the economy.”

(Wister, A., & Speechley, M. (September 1st, 2020). COVID-19: Pandemic Risk, Resilience and Possibilities for Aging Research. Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue Canadienne Du Vieillissement .)

What is the role of older adults during the pandemic (victims; fighters; neither; both): Academic

Similar to the media discourse reviewed, but to a lesser extent, 5 out of 10 academic papers presented older adults as victims during the pandemic, here again reinforcing the perception of older adults as being “the most vulnerable”. Of the other 5 academic papers, 3 offered a more balanced view and 2 presented older adults in neither of these roles (not victims or fighters).

“Nursing homes have become “ground zero” for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic in North America.1 In both the United States and Canada, the first recorded COVID-19 deaths and outbreaks occurred in nursing homes, with case fatality rates in these settings reported to be as high as 33.7%.2 Since that time, more than 25,000 nursing home residents have died of COVID-19 in the United States, whereas more than 80% of all COVID-19 deaths in Canada are among nursing home residents.”

(Stall, N. M., Farquharson, C., Fan‐Lun, C., Wiesenfeld, L., Loftus, C. A., Kain, D., Johnstone, J., McCreight, L., Goldman, R. D., & Mahtani, R. (July 1st , 2020). A hospital partnership with a nursing home experiencing a COVID‐19 outbreak: Description of a multiphase emergency response in Toronto, Canada. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.)

“The differential mortality risks suggest that this is largely a “gero-pandemic,” which has brought the field of aging into center-stage, in both pathogenic and salutogenic contexts.”

(Wister, A., & Speechley, M. (September 1st, 2020). COVID-19: Pandemic Risk, Resilience and Possibilities for Aging Research. Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue Canadienne Du Vieillissement.)

" La COVID-19 n’est pas une maladie équitable. Bien entendu, les personnes âgées, handicapées et celles souffrant de problèmes de santé sous-jacents sont plus à risque de souffrir de formes plus graves de COVID-19." […] "Nous avons tendance à considérer les personnes âgées comme des personnes vulnérables. Cependant, cette perspective est remise en question lorsque nous tenons compte de leurs points de vue, de leur créativité et de leur résilience, et lorsque nous adoptons une optique plus globale, en fonction de laquelle la santé n’est pas le seul élément à prendre en compte, même en temps de pandémie . "

Translation: [“COVID-19 is not an equitable disease. Of course, older people, people with disabilities, and people with underlying health conditions are at higher risk of contracting more serious forms of COVID-19.” “Our tendency [...] to see older people as vulnerable is challenged when we take notice of their points of view, creativity, and resilience, and when we take a more holistic view that recognizes that there is more than health to think about even during a pandemic.”]

Domain categorization (employment; health and health care; social inclusion; safety and security): Academic

In the 10 academic papers examined, the domains most represented in the articles throughout the time periods covered were health care (n=4) and social inclusion (n=4), followed by employment (n=1), and safety and security (n=1).

Are Indigenous Elders mentioned: Academic

Only 1 paper out of 10 called for more research with Indigenous older adults, especially in reference to their needs, and assessment of these needs. The following quotation is from that paper:

“ En cette période de crise associée à la COVID-19, il est essentiel que les chercheurs mènent des travaux sur le vieillissement qui tiennent comptent des populations autochtones et des autres populations sous-représentées, des facteurs socio-économiques et culturels, de l’accès équitable aux ressources du système de santé et de l’engagement des patients spécialement lorsque ceci concerne les personnes âgées. ”

(Rylett, R. J., Alary, F., Goldberg, J., Rogers, S., & Versteegh, P. (December 12th, 2020). La COVID-19 et les priorités de recherche sur le vieillissement . Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue Canadienne Du Vieillissement .)

Translation: [“It is crucial during this COVID-19 crisis for investigators carrying out research on aging to consider Indigenous and other under-represented populations, socio-economic and cultural factors, equitable access to health system resources, and patient engagement, particularly as these factors relate to older adults.”]

Main themes: Older adults

The analysis of 20 documents authored by older adults revealed 2 main themes focused on the negative impact of the pandemic on older adults (n=7) and the downfalls of the health care system – especially as it relates to long term care (n=4). It is important to note that the impact of the pandemic is discussed in regards to different groups of older adults (such as, childless older adults, LGBTQ seniors) and, as such, offers a more diverse and heterogeneous analysis of the impact, one that was not reflected in the media or in the academic documents. Other themes were spread equally, as illustrated in Figure 8.

Figure 7 depicts the main themes and subthemes for the older adult discourse. The main themes are shown in blue, with subthemes shown underneath in orange.

The following themes and subthemes emerged from the older adults discourse:

• the impact of the pandemic on older adults:
• the need to provide help to older adults
• death or loss
• the challenges and downfalls of the healthcare system:
• call on action to the governments
• vaccination:
• vaccination
• perceptions of older adults:
• implications of older adults in diverse spheres of society
• perceptions of aging
• resilience:
• the need to develop tools for older adults

Subthemes: Older adults

Seven subthemes were identified in the older adults analysis. The need to provide help and develop tools to support older adults during the pandemic were the most prevalent subthemes Footnote 10 . Other subthemes are illustrated in Figure 9 below.

Main arguments: Older adults

Similar to the media discourse, the main arguments sustained in the older adults’ documents related to the vulnerability of older adults and the call to action from governments and civil society (9 articles out of 20). However, older adults offered a more nuanced argument in that they also focused on the resilience of older adults and provided a more positive view of the process of aging. Moreover, this positive framing of aging targeted independent older adults.

Is ageism being discussed or criticized as an issue (in an implicit or explicit way): Older adults

Eight articles out of 20 written by older adults or their associations criticized ageism as an issue. Ageism was often discussed along with other forms of discrimination, such as racism. When ageism was criticized, it primarily focused on healthy older adults living independently within their own communities, not older adults who are residents of long term care homes or similar communal care facilities.

“ Le Réseau FADOQ souhaite sincèrement que 2020 changera à jamais la façon dont on considère les aînés dans la société. J'en appelle à la compassion et au sens du respect des Québécois. Chérissons les aînés. Soyons bienveillants. Mais forçons aussi la main des gouvernements qui négligent d'accorder à de trop nombreux aînés des revenus minimalement décents. ” .

(Gisèle Tassé-Goodman, Réseau FADOQ , December 8, 2020, La Presse .)

Translation: [The Réseau FADOQ Footnote 11 sincerely hopes that 2020 will forever change how older adults are viewed in society. I call on the compassion and respect of all Quebecers. Let's cherish our seniors. Let's remember to be kind. But let's also force the hand of governments that often fail to provide too many seniors with minimally decent incomes.]

" Tout ça pour des vieux blancs malades. Ce monsieur semble ignorer qu'aux États-Unis, une très forte proportion des personnes touchées sont des Noirs, surtout des vieux sans doute, ayant de fortes préconditions découlant essentiellement de la ségrégation raciale, c'est-à-dire du racisme. Et bien sûr, l'âgisme et le mercantilisme sont les pierres d'assise du raisonnement de M. Le Boucher ."

(Simone Landry, retired professor, May 23rd, 2020, Le Devoir .)

Translation: [All this for sick old white people. This gentleman seems to be unaware that in the United States, a very high proportion of people with COVID-19 are blacks, presumably most of them seniors, with serious preconditions stemming essentially from racial segregation, that is racism. And of course, ageism and commercialism are the cornerstones of Mr. Le Boucher's reasoning.]

“ La pensée a besoin de petites cases pour classifier les gens. Une fois classés, tout devient plus simple. On est un boomer, un millénial ou autre chose et nous sont associées certaines valeurs, certains défauts typiques de cette catégorie (ou qu'on leur prête sans analyse trop approfondie). ”

(Pierre Cliche, May 30th, 2020, Opinion, La Presse .)

Translation: [Thought needs to categorize people into little boxes. Once people are categorized, everything becomes easier. We're a boomer or a millennial or anything else, and some typical values and flaws are associated with each category (or the way each category is perceived, without in-depth analysis.]

Does the document contribute to ageism, that is, reflects ageist attitudes (implicitly or explicitly): Older adults

There were 6 articles out of 20 that used language or ideas that could be interpreted as contributing to ageism. The analysis revealed the presence of self-ageism, indicating that older adults have integrated existing negative stereotypes based on age (for example, the presumed non-productivity of older adults).

“Dear editor, When the vaccine for COVID-19 rolls out, it should not start with us old folk.” […] “We old folk are not productive members of society and can shelter at home if concerned.”

(Ian Kimm, December 3rd, 2020, BC Local News.)

Are there references to specific chronological age (or age range): Older adults

There was great variety in references to age ranging from 50 and above to 85 and above. The most frequent age categories were either 65 and above (n=3) or 70 or above (n=2):

“High-dose flu vaccines are covered for all older adults over 65 years of age, but only through a physician or via public health.”

(Canadian Association for Retired Persons, CARP, April 2nd, 2020.)

Interestingly, a survey conducted by Age-Well (a Canadian technology and aging network), referred to adults in their 80s as fully capable of using technologies. 

“ Olive Bryanton, 83 ans, de Hampshire à l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard, n’imagine pas la vie pendant la pandémie de COVID-19 sans technologie. ”

(Age-Well, September 29th, 2020; survey was also reported by the Canadian Association for Retired Persons, CARP on April 2nd, 2020.)

Translation: [Olive Bryanton, 83, of Hampshire, Prince Edward Island, can't imagine life during the COVID-19 pandemic without technology.]

How is aging, as a process, described or referred to (loss; gain; both; neither): Older adults

Eleven out of 20 articles written by older adults or their associations described aging in terms of loss, with references to older adults as the most vulnerable population to COVID-19. Some of these articles reflected self-ageism whereby older adults seemed to identify with and accept negative age-based stereotypes. On the other hand, a total of 6 articles offered a more balanced view of the aging process, describing it either in terms of gains (n=3) or both in terms of losses and gains (n=3). The following are examples of framing aging as a loss, followed by an example of a gain.

“I will probably have died or become too feeble to take. While I wait for a successful COVID-19 vaccine to be found, I find myself becoming an angry, bitter old lady.”

(Mary Moir, 82 years old; October 23rd, 2020, Branpton News.)

“Learn to use facetime or skype on your phone or computer so you can watch a show or a movie on one while video chatting on the other, simultaneously.”

(Canadian Associations for Retired Persons, CARP, April 2nd, 2020.)

Are there references to older adults’ contribution (s) to society: Older adults

Of the 20 papers analyzed, 4 clearly illustrated older adults calling for governments to acknowledge what they contribute or bring to society. The following quotation is an example of such framing: 

“ Je veux bien que l'on fasse de nous des sages ou des bâtisseurs, mais je préférerais qu'on nous considère comme des citoyens actifs, participant encore de plein droit au développement de la société et capables d'assumer leur part du fardeau collectif.  ”

(Pierre Cliche, May 30th, 2020, La Presse .)

Translation: [I don't mind us being turned into elders or builders, but I would prefer us to be perceived as active citizens who are still full participants in the development of society and able to bear their share of the collective burden.]

Are challenges or potential costs posed by aging or older adults mentioned: Older adults

The analysis revealed that out of 20 articles, 4 focused on the costs and challenges posed by an aging population, precisely on the increased economic costs or burden of an aging society on the health care system. The remaining 16 articles did not discuss the potential challenges or costs posed by aging.

How are older adults being positioned in regards to other groups: Older adults

In these documents, older adults were positioned in relation to other age groups, by older adults themselves. Of the 20 articles analyzed, 8 positively positioned older adults in relation to other groups, 2 did so in a negative manner, while the question was not applicable in 10 of the articles. The following quotations are examples where older adults were positively compared to younger age groups:

“ En ce qui concerne les médias sociaux, si populaires auprès des jeunes, ils sont également très utilisés par les personnes âgées.  ”

( Le Réseau de Centres d’excellence , AGE-WELL, Prince Edward Island, September 29th, 2020.)

Translation: [Social media, which is so popular with young people, is also widely used by older adults.]

“Some older adults can manage the stress related to Covid-19 better than younger adults. Their life experience enhances the ability to put difficult times into perspective.”

(Alberta Council on Aging, Newsletter Summer 2020 Edition.)

What is the role of older adults during the pandemic (victims; fighters; neither; both): Older adults

Similar to the media discourse, it was common for older adults to focus on their role as victims (11 out of 20). Five articles offered a more balanced view; 2 articles did not present older adults as victims nor fighters. Two articles presented older adults as fighters.

Domain categorization (employment; health and health care; social inclusion; safety and security): Older adults

Health and health care (n=8) were the domains most frequently discussed among the 20 articles, followed by safety and security (n=7), equity and inclusion (n=4) and employment (n=1).

Are Indigenous Elders mentioned: Older adults

None of the 20 articles discussed aging in relations to Indigenous Elders or Indigenous communities.

4.4 Government communication discourse (n=60) 

This section of the analysis is divided into 2 main sections: press briefings and ministry or department communications. The findings for the press briefings are presented first, in full, followed by the findings for the ministry or department communications. The analyses are based on 60 government communications, including 32 press briefings and 28 ministry or department communications. All Canadian provinces and territories, and the federal government, are represented in this part of the dataset.

4.4.1 Press briefings (n=32)

Main themes: press briefings.

The analysis of 32 press briefings revealed 6 main themes and 9 subthemes. Figure 10 depicts the main themes and subthemes for the press briefings. The main themes are shown in blue, with subthemes shown underneath in orange.

The following themes and subthemes emerged from the press briefings:

• investment and services to protect growing population of vulnerable older adults:
• progress at increasing the safety and support measured in LTC homes
• investments in an aging population
• everyone has a responsibility to protect older adults:
• negative impacts on mental health
• solidarity of communities
• COVID-19 highlights chronic problems in LTC homes:
• the situation is fragile
• frontline workers portrayed as heroes
• psychosocial impact of PH restrictions or plans (vaccination, restrictions, limits on socialization):
• impact of COVID-19 on holiday plans
• older adults are a high-risk group and must be protected or prioritized:
• prioritized in vaccine strategy
• balance between protecting older adults and maintaing social supports:
• staying connected with older adults

Main themes are shown in Figure 11 below. The most salient theme, which appeared in 15 press briefings, was the presentation of older adults as a high-risk group which must be protected and prioritized. Other main themes are presented in Figure 11.

Subthemes: Press briefings

Nine subthemes were identified in the analysis of the press briefings. The predominant subtheme, which appeared in 16 (of the 32) press briefings, was the focus on the fragility of the situation in long term care homes. The other subthemes are illustrated in Figure 12.

Main arguments: Press briefings

The bulleted list below shows the main arguments identified through the analysis of the 32 press briefings. Two arguments stood out from the others, as they were evident in the majority of the press briefings. The first is the need to protect and prioritize older adults who are vulnerable. The second is the need for a careful and cautious approach to ensure safety and quality of life in long term care. Other main arguments in the press briefings are detailed in the list below.

• Need to protect and prioritize older adults who are vulnerable: 15
• Careful and cautious approach to ensure safety and quality of life (visitation, social support, testing) in long-term care homes: 9
• We all need to follow public health guidelines (that is, reducing social contact with older adults) and adjust to changes: 3
• We are all responsible for protecting older adults who are vulnerable: 2
• We need to make investments in the long-term care sector and programs to meet the needs of older adults: 2
• Older adults should be celebrated for the ways that they contribute to our society: 1

Is ageism being discussed or criticized as an issue (in an implicit or explicit way): Press briefings

The analysis revealed ageism was criticized as an issue implicitly in 6 of the 32 press briefings. The first 2 quotations below are examples of this implicit discussion indicating long term care is failing to meet basic standards. The third and fourth quotations set out below are related to calls for change.

“Are you going to bring back the idea of having a national standard in [LTC] facilities?”… “No Canadian wants to see their loved ones not well-cared for. I don't think […] some of the regions should offer better or worse protection to elders than others and now is the time to have conversations between the federal government and the provinces on establishing norms for long term care across the country so that all Canadians can be reassured we will take care of elders who deserve the very best from all of us.”

“We have 2 new healthcare outbreaks as well at the [LTC home] and [LTC home] and 2 which are not over, including at the [LTC home]. We know how challenging that outbreak has been and we want to do everything we can to make sure that never happens again.”

“25 million dollars to community groups that deliver mental health and addiction recovery services, many of these groups specialize in helping people with unique needs in our society including seniors, homeless families and Indigenous people and others who may be suffering due to the pandemic and the economic crisis.”

“We've seen over the past many months far too many terrible tragedies in seniors' residences. We need to do better.”

Does the document contribute to ageism, that is, reflects ageist attitudes (implicitly or explicitly): Press briefings

In the press briefings, there were 3 implicit examples of discourse that contributes to ageism (or reflects ageist attitudes). In the first example, the discourse suggests that if society does not protect older adults, they will become a burden and take away the capacity of the system to care for others later. The implication is that protecting older adults now will prevent further burden on our healthcare system.

“Our only protection from COVID-19 is each other and we all share the responsibility of protecting our communities and our fellow [citizens]. The second reason that this approach is not right for [this province] is that death from COVID-19 is not the only severe outcome in [this province] over the past 6 months. One in every 67 people between the ages of 20 and 39 diagnosed with COVID has needed hospital care. That rises to 1 in 18 for those aged 40 to 69 and 1 in 4 for those aged 70 and over. If we let the virus spread freely our health system could be overloaded and caring for other patients which would challenge our ability to provide all the other health services that we need. Babies are still being born, car crashes are still occurring and our health system still must support [citizens] in countless other ways.”

The discourse in the second example emphasizes protecting older adults, which implies that this age group is homogenous and needs protecting; it does not acknowledge that older adults have assets that support resilience.

“The elderly, particularly those with underlying health conditions, are at grave risk from the COVID-19 virus,” [they] said. “We will maintain our vigilance on their behalf.”

In the third example, the speaker differentiates between ‘being healthy’ (and therefore not at risk) and ‘others’ who live with functional limitations due to health conditions. This is an example of both ‘othering’ and ‘ableism’, and reflects a deficit-oriented attitude Footnote 12 toward others who are in the same age category, based on their functional ability.

“When you look at the 216 deaths that we've had up until now, 90% of the people were 70 years of age and over and 9% were between 60 and 69 years of age. That means that 99% of those deaths are people of 60 years of age and over, so that does mean on the one hand that it's reassuring for the younger people, but obviously it also shows us where we have to put our attention, that is we have to put our attention on the older people. I include myself in that because I'm 62 and, however that is good news, that's what I'm being told. Those people who die between 60 and 69 years of age, almost all of those people had chronic illnesses so that means that if you are in good health as I am, between 60 and 69 years of age there's no reason to worry.”

Are there references to specific chronological age (or age range): Press briefings

Of the 32 press briefings we reviewed, 11 made references to specific age groups. The following table shows the age groups used.

How is aging, as a process, described or referred to (loss; gain; both; neither): Press briefings

Within the press briefings analyzed, the aging process was described in different ways. The majority of the press briefings (25 out of 32) framed aging in terms of loss only, with references to older adults as having many health risks and needing protection. Six press briefings used neither the loss nor gain frames to describe the aging process, 1 referred to both losses and gains, and none of the press briefings referred to the aging process solely in terms of gains. Two examples below show how aging is framed primarily in terms of loss.

“We're facing an ageing population - a population that has more needs and more requirements and we're really just at the very very beginning of an ageing population which will go on for a number of decades so we are looking at how we can reform long term care”

“We'll take into consideration also the age of the population, as I said before 99% of the deaths we had already are all people over 60 years old, so of course it's different when you talk about being close to somebody older and somebody younger. So it's all the kind of discussion we hope soon to be able to present a plan of reopening with different sectors”

Are there references to older adults’ contribution (s) to society: Press briefings

In the analysis of the 32 press briefings, older adults were mostly viewed through a deficit-lens, with few (n=4) acknowledgements of their contributions to society. In the press briefings where there was an acknowledgement of the contributions of older adults, these acknowledgements often referred to past contributions made when people were younger, as exemplified in the first quotation below. The second and third quotations provided are examples of acknowledgement of general or current contributions of older adults (not time-stamped to the past). Instances where the positive contributions of Indigenous Elders were acknowledged were most often in press briefings from the Territories.

“Every Canadian deserves to be safe and that includes the seniors who helped build this country.”

“Elders in our communities are such an essential part of our rural and urban communities as well, but also in the bigger facilities that we do have in [this city]. Making sure they are protected and feel safe which is an extremely important part of eldercare.”

“Older [citizens] are leaders in the province. They are business owners and entrepreneurs, volunteers, mentors, caregivers and have a wealth of knowledge and expertise to share with other generations.” […] “Older [citizens] are the backbone of our communities and make valuable contributions through their work, interests and volunteerism.”

Are challenges or potential costs posed by aging or older adults mentioned: Press briefings

Of the 32 press briefings reviewed, 16 referenced the challenges or potential costs of an aging population. The quotations below show examples of how the press briefings referenced monetary costs for housing and personal protective equipment or resources, a shared responsibility for protecting older adults, and necessary expenses.

“COVID-19 is obviously unbelievably harmful, potentially harmful to people living in long-term care, so we have to continue in a methodical and safe way to take the actions required. It's why we invested $165.4 million in our single site proposal to keep people safe, it's why we integrated long-term care home in our PPE supply chains before anyone else did in Canada, why we have dramatically increased infection control and invested $160 million now in attracting more staff to long-term care, all of this will help us over the next year and potentially longer as we deal with these situations.”

“We've seen over the past many months far too many terrible tragedies in seniors' residences. We need to do better. Through the safe restart agreement, the federal government has already provided $740 million to help provinces and territories address the immediate needs of vulnerable populations like those in long-term care and this week. Deputy PM Freeland presented the fall economic statement in which we are committing up to $1 billion for a safe, long-term care fund. This fund will help provinces and territories and carry out infection prevention, improve ventilation and hire staff or top-up existing employees' wages. We are ready to keep doing our part of seniors and for all Canadians.”

“Even if we could perfect protections in place for those who live in congregate settings like long-term care while letting the virus spread freely elsewhere, we cannot simply dictate where and how the virus will spread. The more community transmission that we see the greater the risk of it spreading to older and at-risk [citizens]. In [this province], about 30% of those over 80 who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and who live in long-term care have died. For those over 80 living in the community it is a bit lower but still very high. The lives of people with chronic conditions and our elders are very important.”

“ Donc pour aller voir exactement si la situation est sous contrôle il faut revenir sur la situation dans les CHSLD et les résidences pour aînés de façon générale. D'abord c'est important de se rappeler qu'avant même la crise, depuis des années, on avait des pénuries de personnel dans les résidences pour aînés. On avait, je pense, peut-être le problème le plus important sur un problème de salaires donc on n'arrive pas même si on a affiché beaucoup de postes à combler les postes c'est encore plus difficile dans certaines résidences privées qui payent moins cher mais même dans un secteur public très difficile d'aller attirer tout le personnel. ”

Translation: [So, to see whether the situation is really under control, we need to review the situation in CHSLDs and seniors' residences as a whole. First of all, it is important to remember that, even before the crisis, seniors' residences had been short-staffed for many years. Perhaps the biggest problem was related to wages. Therefore, we were unable to hire, although we advertised many vacant positions. The situation is even worse in some private residences that pay less, but attracting staff is a challenge even for the public sector.]

How are older adults positioned in regards to other groups: Press briefings

The analysis examined how older adults are positioned in relation to other age groups. Of the 32 press briefings analyzed, 22 positioned older adults against younger generations, or made comparisons between them. The comparisons included positioning older adults as ‘at-risk or vulnerable’, younger populations as having responsibility for or towards older adults, and in some cases grouping older adults with children. The following quotations are examples from the articles that positioned older adults in relation to younger age groups.

“We know that people who are over the age of 80 are more likely to have severe illness or to die from COVID.”

“This is just a reflection of high transmission rates in the community. No one intentionally wants to take COVID into these facilities but staff [and] visitors can unintentionally bring it in because you may not be symptomatic for up to 2 days before but you’re still infectious and with all the layers of protection most use and other layers, you may still inadvertently introduce COVID. So we really need to protect our most vulnerable, especially in long-term care facilities, personal care homes but also people living independently who are our parents and grandparents. Be extra cautious if you do need to visit to assist them with something.”

“If there is a child that is living 1 or 2 in a home and they need help for example or an elderly family member that needs help, what we're asking you to do is to keep that help coming from 1 household.”

“Because as soon as you contact someone with COVID-19 and you have it, you want to go home and hurt your children? I don't know anyone who wants to hurt their children or parents or grandparents.”

What is the role of older adults during the pandemic (victims; fighters; neither; both): Press briefings

The discourse in the press briefings primarily presented older adults as victims in the pandemic (28 out of 32 press briefings), rather than fighters resisting impacts of the restrictions or the virus (n=0). One press briefing presented them as neither victims or fighters, and 3 presented them as both. The first 3 quotations below are examples of how older adults were presented as victims. The last quotation is an example of how they were given the roles of both victims and fighters, battling isolation but needing help from others.

“What I have heard sometimes suggested for COVID-19 is that because younger people are generally at low risk of experiencing severe outcomes, we should protect older [citizens] but otherwise let the virus spread as quickly and freely as possible so that we can build up a collective immunity to it. This suggestion however, does not take into account the drawbacks of this approach. It is true that COVID-19 is rarely fatal in young people in [this province], the risk of death for a person diagnosed with COVID-19 is about 18% for those over 70, less than half a percent for those between 40 and 69, and vanishingly small for those under the age of 40.”

“Our seniors, particularly vulnerable to the consequences of COVID-19.” […] “Protect your parents, grandparents. Put an iron ring around the long-term care.”

“We want to get at the most vulnerable population and then get at the health workers across [the province] who really are vulnerable just in a different way. And in some cases, those 2 priorities are going to mesh somewhat because for example, when we go with the most vulnerable, and we go into a long term care facility to look after the residents there who have suffered so badly from this horrible, horrible epidemic, we are obviously not just going to do the residents that were there with the vaccination program, we are [going] to have [it] available for the people who work there, the personal care workers, the healthcare workers, and those essential visitors that are required to look after the people in those homes.”

“For the personal care homes, designated family caregivers will continue to have access to their loved ones. These are family members or loved ones who are directly involved in the care needs of the residents there. They will be screened and provided with PPE as appropriate which is our current situation, but general visitors and non essential services will now be suspended in the PCHs exceptions will exist for the end of life compassionate reasons and we understand how distressing this will be for many residents and their loved ones. We encourage virtual visits, phone calls and we must empathize that this is essential to protecting our most vulnerable population it's not forever but it's necessary right now in the hospitals.”

Domain categorization (employment; health and health care; social inclusion; safety and security): Press briefings

In this analysis, there were references to 2 of the 4 domains. Health and health care were referred to in 29 of 32 press briefings. Social inclusion was referenced in 3 press briefings.

Are Indigenous Elders mentioned: Press briefings

As previously mentioned, press briefings from the Canadian territories most often referred to Indigenous Elders and their contributions to their communities. An example is provided below.

Ministry or department communications (n=28)

Main themes: ministry or department communications.

The 28 ministry or department communications analyzed included those generated by ministries, departments, and bureaucracies. Within this part of the dataset, 8 main themes and 12 sub-themes emerged. Figure 13 shown below is a depiction of the main themes and subthemes for the ministry or department communications. The main themes are shown in blue, with subthemes underneath them in orange.

The following themes and subthemes emerged from the ministry or the department of communications:

• need for government investments to support programming for older adults:
• situation in LTC homes is fragile
• frontline workers are portrayed as heroes
• need for government investments to support caregivers of older adults:
• caregivers plan an integral role in supporting older adults
• older adults are contributors to our society:
• older adults are adaptable
• input from National Seniors’ Council is necessary to understand the needs of older adults:
• important to represent the diversity of older adults
• volunteers play an important role in supporting older adults:
• solidarity of communities, we are all in this together
• public health restrictions are impacting older adults
• older adults are vulnerable
• protection from elder abuse
• supporting an aging population
• older adults are a significant proportion of our population
• protecting older adults must be balanced with maintaining quality of life:
• aging in place with social connections and dignity will prevent early admission to LTC
• balance between social distancing and social support

The most salient theme in the ministry or department communications was the need for government investments to support programming for older adults. All main themes are listed in Figure 14.

Subthemes: Ministry or department communications

Twelve subthemes were identified in the analysis of the ministry or department communications. The predominant subtheme, which appeared in 8 of the 28 ministry or department communications was that older adults are vulnerable. The other subthemes are illustrated in Figure 15.

Main arguments: Ministry or department communications

Several main arguments were made in the 28 ministry or department communications. One argument that stood out from the others was the need for a careful and cautious approach to ensure safety and quality of life (visitation, social support, testing) in long-term care homes. This argument was made in 9 ministry or department communications. The other main arguments are:

• careful and cautious approach to ensure safety and quality of life (visitation, social support, testing) in long-term care homes: 9
• need to protect and prioritize older adults who are vulnerable: 5
• need to make investments in the long-term care sector and programs to meet the needs of older adults: 5
• caregivers are essential during COVID-19 and require more support: 2
• need to create an inclusive society for our growing population of diverse seniors: 2
• we all need to follow the public health guidelines and adjust to changes: 2
• older adults should be celebrated for the ways that they contribute to our society: 1
• take action on engaging with older adults and key stakeholders to support the health and wellbeing of older adults: 1
• importance of volunteers to support older adults: 1
• provide education for families or caregivers on conditions affecting older adults (that is, dementia): 1
• aging in place with social connections and dignity: 1

Is ageism being discussed or criticized as an issue (in an implicit or explicit way): Ministry or department communications

Ageism was criticized as an issue explicitly in 1 out of the 28 ministry or department communications reviewed. It was discussed in the context of preventing abuse during the pandemic.

“Another area of concern for seniors is protection from elder abuse. We continue to support and fund the efforts of the [territory’s] Seniors’ Society to raise awareness about this issue, deliver community public awareness workshops and lead the Network to Prevent Abuse of Older Adults. We are currently considering the possible need for changes in legislation or programs that will improve protection of seniors from abuse.”

Does the document contribute to ageism, that is, reflects ageist attitudes (implicitly or explicitly): Ministry or department communications

While ministry or department communications did not explicitly reflect ageist attitudes, the focus on the vulnerability of older adults as well as aging mainly as a process of loss suggests the prevalence of implicit ageism in this discourse.

Are there references to specific chronological age (or age range): Ministry or department communications

Of the 28 ministry or department communications reviewed, 4 made references to specific age groups. The following table shows the age groups used.

How is aging, as a process, described or referred to (loss, gain, both, neither): Ministry or department communications

Within the ministry or department communications analyzed, the aging process was described in different ways. Precisely, of the 28 documents, 15 framed aging in terms of loss, with references to older adults as having many health risks and needing protection, while 10 ministry or department communications were neutral in their description of the aging process. Two referred to the aging process in terms of gain and referred to both losses and gains.  

The first 2 quotations below show examples of how aging is framed as a loss. The third quotation provides an example of how aging was framed as a gain. The fourth quotation is an example where both loss and gain frames were used.

“Seniors are more at risk of developing severe complications from COVID-19 because of their age and underlying medical conditions. For seniors living together in facilities, there is an even greater risk of infection and transmission due to proximity.”

“Having those strong networks of your longtime friends and family around you has impacts on your health as you age. Having the supports to age-in-place in your home community will improve the quality of life for seniors and may prevent early admission to long-term more-intensive care facilities.”

“Older [citizens] are leaders in the province. They are business owners and entrepreneurs, volunteers, mentors, caregivers and have a wealth of knowledge and expertise to share with other generations.”

Both loss and gain

“The aging population continues to make major contributions to society through volunteer work, transmitting their experience and knowledge, helping their families and participating in the workforce.”[…] “Public health measures also exacerbate challenges with isolation, leaving seniors and vulnerable adults isolated and at a greater risk of abuse or neglect.”

Are there references to older adults’ contribution (s) to society: Ministry or department communications

In the analysis of the 28 ministry or department communications, there were 10 documents which included acknowledgements of older adults’ contributions to society. Some, for example, spoke to the importance of giving back to older adults for the wisdom they have contributed throughout their lives. The quotations below illustrate some examples.

“Mr. Speaker, seniors are the bedrock of our lives. They have been there for us since the day we were born. They have given so much to us. Their knowledge, their guidance and their love. As such, we needed to take the time and use the necessary resources to ensure that these units were built to the best standard available. It is important that we give back to the ones that have given us so much.”

“The aging population continues to make major contributions to society through volunteer work, transmitting their experience and knowledge, helping their families and participating in the workforce.”

“Work has also begun on a program that will provide more opportunities for Indigenous residents of long-term care homes to participate in programming that honours and celebrates First Nations history, culture and traditional practices.”

“Elders counselling will be working a modified schedule with volunteer/casual Elders on a case-by-case basis. Approvals will take into consideration the risk of exposure to the Elder or facility and will be in the secure visiting area.”

Are challenges or potential costs posed by aging or older adults mentioned: Ministry or department communications

Of the 28 ministry or department communications reviewed, 11 referenced the challenges or potential costs of an aging population, primarily as it relates to human resources, caregivers, and the necessity for these expenses. Here are a few examples.

“We are here to help these incredible caregivers making sacrifices every day with emotional support, access to tools and resources, and to assist them to navigate our complex health system.”

“Currently, close to $90,000 in grant funding has been provided to 50+ clubs and seniors’ organizations throughout the province. Through this application-based program, seniors’ groups may apply for funding of up to $2,000 each to organize and promote activities and programs that support social inclusion, healthy aging, mental wellness, and overall well-being.”

“[Our province’s] senior population will almost double within 20 years, which will put increased pressure on the province’s long-term care system…Improvements to the long-term care system must be considered to meet the needs of our aging population.”

How are older adults positioned in regards to other groups: Ministry or department communications

Of the 28 ministry or department communications analyzed, 4 positioned older adults against younger generations, or made comparisons between them. The comparisons included positioning older adults as needing protection. The following quotations are examples that positioned older adults in relation to younger age groups.

“All Canadians have a role to play in helping to protect seniors and medically vulnerable people, who are at greatest risk of severe health complications from COVID-19.”

“[Our] most vulnerable families, seniors and youth will receive additional support for food, shelter, basic necessities and staying connected during the province’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

What is the role of older adults during the pandemic (victims, fighters, neither, both): Ministry or department communications

The discourse in the ministry or department communications primarily presented older adults as victims (n=17), more so than fighters (n=1). Seven ministry or department communications presented them as neither victims or fighters, and 3 presented them as both. Some examples of these different roles are presented below.

“Seniors and persons with a weakened immune system or underlying medical conditions are at a higher risk of developing complications from COVID-19. The Provincial Government is asking that seniors, persons with disabilities that may affect their immunity, and organizations serving both seniors and persons with disabilities consider ways to support social distancing.”

Both fighters and victims

“From delivering box lunches and treat baskets, to organizing socially distance hiking and bowling, to sending flowers and greeting cards, seniors’ groups have been finding creative ways to help keep seniors connected in spite of challenges related to COVID-19.”

“Older adults continue to show their strength, especially in difficult times and their ability to adapt and lead.”

Domain categorization (employment, health and health care, social inclusion, safety and security): Ministry or department communications

In the ministry or department communications, there were references to all 4 domain categories: employment (n=2), health and health care (n=16), social inclusion (n=9), and safety and security (n=1).

Are Indigenous Elders mentioned: Ministry or department communications

There was limited data specifically focused on Indigenous populations. However, similar to the press briefings, ministry or department communications from the territories made several references to the important roles of Elders, and the need to honour their contributions. Examples of this discourse include:

“Elders counselling will be working a modified schedule with volunteers/casual Elders on a case-by-case basis. Approvals will take into consideration the risk of exposure to the Elder or facility and will be in the secure visiting area.”

5.1 Main findings across the 4 types of discourse (see Table 5 )

5.2 similarities and differences across discourses.

Using a sample of 110 publications from 4 types of discourses (media, academic research, older adults, and government communications), this case study explored how ageism emerged in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the small sample on which the study is based does not allow generalizations of findings, nor does it allow comparisons across jurisdictions, results can be validated (or triangulated) across the different data sources.

• Ageism was raised as an issue throughout the 4 types of discourses, in 1 of 2 ways, either contributing to ageism or criticizing ageism
• Similar themes and arguments were made throughout the data sources regarding the neglect in long-term care and the values of caring and protecting older adults during the pandemic
• Older adults were mainly perceived as “victims” during the pandemic (50% to 88% of the 4 discourse content)
• The aging process was described as a process of “loss” in more than half of the 4 discourse content, that is, 54% to 78% of all documents
• In general, older adults’ contributions to society were rarely acknowledged; 13% to 36% of documents across the 4 types of discourse, highlighted older adults’ contributions as workers, volunteers, and caregivers
• Costs and challenges were more prominent than older adults’ contributions throughout the 4 types of discourse
• Communication that referenced Indigenous Elders were some of the few examples where older adults’ contributions were recognized
• Few documents gave a voice to older adults, that is, they spoke on behalf of them but not with them. For example, the media rarely included excerpts of interviews with older adults
• While the 4 domains of employment, health and healthcare, social inclusion, and safety and security were identified in all data sources, the most prominent domain was health and healthcare
• Older adults (and associations of older adults) also criticized ageism and recognized its negative impact, however they mostly focused on healthy older adults who lived independently within their own homes or communities, not older adults residing in long term care
• Ministry or department communications and older adults themselves were the least likely to associate aging with loss (at 54% and 55%, respectively)
• Academics and older adults shifted the “need to care” discourse to the “need to do more” for the older population by calling for action from governments and civil society. In other words, both groups went beyond criticizing ageism and called for solutions to end it
• Press briefings and ministry or department communications from territories made reference to Indigenous Elders in a positive manner

Note: this table was modified for accessibility reasons.

* While the 4 domains were present, the main one for each data source was health and health care.

The following policy recommendations are based on the findings from this case study of 110 documents (media articles, academic articles, articles written by older adults or their associations, and government communications).

This case study is not without limitations. First, this report is based on a sample of 110 documents. A greater sample of media articles, academic articles, articles written by older adults or their associations, and government communications would be needed to further validate the findings. Second, with this small sample, it was also not possible to explore changes in the discourse across time. Third, considering the main key words used for this study were COVID-19 and pandemic, there was an expectation that the discourse would speak about long-term care. However, the findings suggest an overemphasis on protecting older people and that, too often, older people are not given a voice. Finally, considering that this report highlights examples of age-based discriminatory discourse, general policy recommendations were provided rather than recommendations for specific provincial and territorial governments. In light of these limitations, this case study revealed the prevalence of ageism in the Canadian discourse during the COVID-19 pandemic and provides key suggestions to help remediate the situation.

Documents were selected according to 3 points in time during periods of lockdown and reopening. The 3 points in time covered (when possible): April; mid-September to mid-October; and early December.

A. Media articles or editorials, comments, op-eds (20)

• 7 papers selected in April (3 Globe and Mail; 2 National Post; 2 La Presse )
• 7 papers selected from mid-September to mid-October (3 Globe and Mail; 2 National Post; 2 La Presse )
• 6 papers selected in early December (3 Globe and Mail; 2 National Post; 1 La Presse )

B. Academic papers (10)

• 3 papers selected in June to July
• 3 papers selected in September to October
• 4 papers selected in December

Note: Academic research focused mainly on the Canadian context (n=6) but included international publications as well (n=4).

C. Older adults or associations of older adults (20) or published in Canadian print media

• 7 papers selected in April (ideally, 3 Globe and Mail; 2 National Post; 2 La Presse )
• 7 papers selected from mid-September to mid-October (ideally, 3 Globe and Mail; 2 National Post; 2 La Presse )
• 6 papers selected in early December; (ideally, 3 Globe and Mail; 1 National Post; 2 La Presse ) 

D. Government communications (60)

• A total of 32 press briefings and 28 communications generated by ministries and departments (in the 13 provinces and territories, in addition to the federal jurisdiction) were selected for analysis. Further, these documents were selected according to the 3 time points targeted (April; mid-September to mid-October; and December 2020) which amounts to approximately 2 to 3 press briefings and ministry or government communications per province and territory

Our analysis focused on documents generated in a Canadian context (that is, by Canadian scholars, associations of older adults, governments (be it provincial, territorial or federal)).

• Main keywords: Covid-19 or COVID-19 or coronavirus or Coronavirus or pandémie or pandemic

In combination with (in English): older adults or elder or elders or elderly or boomer or old age or older age or aging or ageing or seniors or senior citizens or ageism or ageist or grandparents or grandparents or young

• In combination with (in French): personnes âgées ou personnes aînées ou aîné(e) ou aîné(s) ou vieux ou vieille ou vieilles ou vieillissement ou âgisme ou âgiste ou grand-parent ou grands-parents ou jeunes
• Advanced search will include combination with (in English): employment or work or workforce or older worker or older workers or health or healthcare or caregiver or caregivers or senior residence or senior residences or long-term care or safety and security or social inclusion
• Advanced search will include combination with (in French): emploi ou emplois ou travail ou travailleur âgé ou travailleurs âgés; santé ou soins de santé ou soignant ou soignants ou professionnel de la santé ou professionnels de la santé ou résidence pour personnes âgées ou résidences pour personnes âgées ou soins de longue durée ou santé et sécurité ou inclusion sociale

Medias (n=20)

• Boom des plateformes de jeu virtuel
• Send in the crowds : What we miss the most from our prepandemic lives
• Globe and Mail
• Un autre coup dur pour les ainés
• The world must act before COVID-19 shatters Africa
• Navigating a path back to prosperity after the coronavirus pandemic
• National Post
• Let’s not get distracted by immunity passports
• CHSLD, les brasiers
• Seniors’ care shouldn’t be a horror show, even postpandemic
• Ontario’s COVID-19 testing nightmare
• Care-home is our national shame
• Why we can ignore anti-vaxxers right now
• Rex Murphy: The full impact of COVID is not borne by all
• Les gens vulnérables ne vivent pas dans les nuages
• Changer de « cible »
• La tragédie silencieuse
• The COVID-19 crisis has exposed Canada’s shameful treatment of its elderly
• Opinion on Covid-19: An opportunity to re-examine how we provide health care
• Pandemic realities offer hope of new approach to child care
• Now comes the hard part: Only masses doses of vaccine get us back to normal
• It’s that time of the year for scarecrows; Fearmongering will not ease enduring crisis

Academics (n = 10)

• Elderly people and responses to COVID-19 in 27 countries
• The Mental Health Benefits of Physical Activity in Older Adults Survive the COVID-19 Pandemic
• The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry
• Stretching the analytic frame: Analytic therapists’ experiences with remote therapy during COVID-19
• Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association
• Are You OK, Boomer? Intensification of Ageism and Intergenerational Tensions on Social Media Amid COVID-19
• Leisure Sciences
• COVID-19 and Long-Term Care Policy for Older People in Canada
• Journal of Aging & Social Policy
• A hospital partnership with a nursing home experiencing a COVID‐19 outbreak: Description of a multiphase emergency response in Toronto, Canada
• Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
• La COVID-19 et les priorités de recherche sur le vieillissement
• Canadian Journal on Aging / La revue canadienne du vieillissement
• Development of a framework for critical care resource allocation for the COVID-19 pandemic in Saskatchewan
• Canadian Medication Association Journal
• COVID-19: Pandemic Risk, Resilience and Possibilities for Aging Research
• La nécessité des approches interdisciplinaires et collaboratives pour évaluer l'impact de la COVID-19 sur les personnes âgées et le vieillissement: déclaration conjointe de l'ACG / CAG et de la RCV / CJA

Older adults (n=20)

• Un autre coup dur pour les aînés
• Selon un sondage, la Covid-19 a amené les personnes âgées du Canada à accroître considérablement leur utilisation de nombreuses technologies
• Le réseau de Centres d’excellence AGE-WELL
• Pour éviter une nouvelle hécatombe en CHSLD
• Réjean Hébert, Le Collectif Action COVID
• J’ai 72 ans et je suis en bonne santé. Est-ce un tort?
• Pierre Cliche
• Vieillir et mourir au temps du coronavirus
• Simone Landry, professeur retraitée
• Vaccine plan must treat all B.C. seniors equally
• BC Seniors Living Association
• We need action, not studies to improve health care now
• Antonieta Soares
• The Canadian Association for Retired Persons (CARP) implores all provincial governments to ensure that the highdose flu vaccine is publicly funded for as many seniors as possible
• Canadian Associations for Retired Persons (CARP)
• Stay (emotionally) close with your grandchildren, while maintaining good (physical distance)
• Older adults and COVID-19: Does the WHO need to prioritize those most vulnerable to the virus?
• International Federation on Aging (IFA)
• Letter: Priority to COVID
• Older aged and all alone. What is the impact of being childless in the time of Covid-19
• Aging population and historically high spending pre-COVID means no balanced budget for the next 30 years
• Fraser Institute
• Peterborough letter: Being able to use the YMCA during the pandemic
• Louise Greene and Gay Bell
• Please follow the COVID rules
• Canada’s long-term care system needs to change, human rights advocate says
• Margaret Gillis, President of the International Longevity Centre-Canada
• Equity under pressure: Does the burden of Covid-19 threaten progress made?
• Covid-19 Highlights Need for National Seniors Strategy
• National Institute on Aging
• How older adults can protect their mental health during Covid-19
• Mental Health Commission of Canada
• How Covid-19 has shaped service delivery for SSBC
• Seniors Service Society

Government communications

• Ontario Allows the Redeployment of Staff to Better Care for Vulnerable People During COVID-19
• Ontario Providing Over Half A Billion Dollars to Protect Vulnerable Seniors against Second Wave of COVID-19
• A Mobile Hospital to Increase Treatment Capacity for COVID-19 Patients
• The Québec Ombudsman’s 2019-2020 Annual Report – News Release 1
• Additional Measures to Help Vulnerable Nova Scotians
• Recognizing Older Nova Scotians
• No new cases of Covid-19; new rules for visiting patients nearing end of life
• International Day of Older Persons
• Province announces additional income relief, stricter screening measures for traverlers
• Influenza seasons arrives in PEI
• Temporary changes to licensing requirements for certain Yukon drivers
• Government increasing supports for Yukon seniors and Elders
• COVID-19 GN Update – April 6, 2020
• COVID-19 GN Update – November 20, 2020
• More support for family caregivers during COVID-19 – Punjabi, Farsi, French, Tagalog and Chinese translations available
• Culturally safe long-term care beds coming to Surrey
• Public Health Agency of Canada releases interim guidance for infection prevention and control of COVID-19 for long-term care homes
• Government of Canada seek applicants for National Senior Council
• Call for action for COVID-19 volunteers
• Greater care, flexible options for Canmore seniors
• Province invests $300,000 in education programs for people with dementia and their caregivers
• Governments invest in new affordable housing project for seniors in Gimli
• Temporary Wage Supplement for Lower Income Essential Workers for Vulnerable Citizens
• Additional Influenza Vaccine Ordered to Accommodate Anticipated Increase in Demand
• Paulie Chinna: Fort Good Hope Senior Complex, Minister’s Statements and Speeches
• Julie Green: YK Seniors Society Annual General Meeting, Ministers’ Statements and Speeches
• Public Adivsory: Advice for Seniors and Persons with Disabilitiese
• Minister Warr Provides Update on Seniors’ Social Inclusion Initiative

Press briefings (n=32)

• Apr 02: Premier Ford provides a COVID-19 update
• Apr 24: Premier Doug Ford and Ontario ministers provide COVID-19 update
• Sep 29: Premier Ford makes an announcement at Queen's Park
• Dec 07: Premier Ford provides an update at Queen's Park
• Apr 09: Quebec update on COVID-19
• Apr 13: Mise à jour du Québec sur la COVID-19
• Oct 13: Le point sur la pandémie de COVID-19 au Québec
• Dec 03: COVID-19 : Québec annule les rassemblements des Fêtes en zone rouge
• Apr 05: Update COVID-19 for Nova Scotians
• Sep 22: Update COVID-19 for Nova Scotians
• Apr 13: Update on COVID-19 (New Brunswick)
• Oct 08: Update on COVID-19 (New Brunswick)
• Apr 30: COVID-19, 1:30pm Update (PEI)
• Sep 15: COVID-19, 11:30am Update (PEI)
• Apr 8: COVID-19 update (Yukon)
• Oct 7: COVID-19 update (Yukon)
• Apr 22: COVID-19 Premier’s Update (BC)
• Sep 14: COVID-19 BC Update
• Dec 23: COVID-19 BC Update
• Apr 28: Federal officials release updated COVID-19 modelling
• Oct 13: PM Trudeau provides update on federal response to COVID-19
• Dec 04: COVID-19 update: Trudeau addresses Canadians
• Apr 15: Update on COVID-19 (Alberta)
• Sep 28: Update on COVID-19 (Alberta)
• Apr 03: COVID-19 (Coronavirus) measures (Manitoba)
• Oct 30: COVID-19 Update (Manitoba)
• Apr 03: Update with Premier Moe and Dr. Shahab (Saskatchewan)
• Nov 17: COVID-19 Update (Saskatchewan)
• Dec 22: Northwest Territories update on COVID-19
• Apr 15: COVID-19 Update (Newfoundland and Labrador)
• Oct 21: COVID-19 Update (Newfoundland and Labrador)
• Dec 21: COVID-19 Update (Newfoundland and Labrador)

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New study reveals high risk of overdose deaths in Cuyahoga County among those using drugs when they’re alone

In Cuyahoga County, the stark reality of the opioid crisis is that most drug overdose victims die alone, with no one nearby to help.

A recent study , done in partnership with Case Western Reserve University and Cuyahoga County, highlights the critical need for “targeted harm-reduction strategies” in Northeast Ohio, where the opioid epidemic continues to claim lives at nearly twice the national average.

Those strategies include the distribution of Naloxone (an opioid antagonist that can reverse the effects of an overdose), and increasing the availability of medication-assisted treatment options and fentanyl test strips.

The research, using data from the  Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office , examined overdose deaths between 2016 and 2020, focusing on people using drugs when they were alone.

The study revealed that a staggering 75% of overdose victims were using drugs alone, a behavior strongly associated with increased mortality. Key findings indicate that individuals using drugs alone were more likely to be at home and less likely to receive life-saving interventions like naloxone, said  Daniel Flannery , the Dr. Semi J. and Ruth Begun Professor and director of the  Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education .

“Being informed is crucial—knowledge equips you to take action,”  Flannery  said. “It’s about reviving someone in need, and if that’s not possible, contacting emergency services immediately. The chances of a fatal outcome significantly increase when there’s no one around to help.”

New policies and community efforts must prioritize reaching individuals at risk of using alone to curb the devastating impact of the opioid crisis, said  Vaishali Deo , research associate at the Begun Center and co-principal investigator in the research.

“Our findings underscore the urgent need for innovative harm-reduction strategies aimed at those most vulnerable—those using drugs alone,” Deo said. “Interventions must focus on reducing isolation and improving access to emergency medical care to prevent further loss of life.”

The research findings were published by the National Institutes of Health’s  National Library of Medicine .

Additional insights

• In Cuyahoga County, from 2016 through 2020, there were 2,944 unintentional overdose deaths for those over 18 years old. That’s 54 deaths per 100,000 residents. The national average is 28 overdose deaths per 100,000 residents.
• The study further details the demographics and circumstances surrounding overdose deaths in Cuyahoga County from 2016 to 2020. Most were non-Hispanic (94.9%), white (72.2%) and male (71.3%), with a significant portion 35 to 64 years old. Most lived in the City of Cleveland. Over half attained at least a high school diploma.
• Toxicology reports revealed that synthetic opioids, specifically illicitly manufactured fentanyl, was present in 72.7% of the deaths. Cocaine and heroin were also significant contributors, found in 41.6% and 29.6% of cases, respectively. Nearly 80% of overdose deaths involved the use of multiple substances.
• Despite the presence of bystanders in more than half the cases, most victims (74.9%) were using drugs alone at the time of their fatal overdose, mainly at home. Emergency medical services responded to most of the incidents, yet over 60% of victims were pronounced dead at the scene—highlighting the critical timing needed for interventions like naloxone, which was administered in just 28.6% of the cases.

Deo and Flannery were joined in the research by Sarah Fulton, a research associate at the Begun Center, and Manreet K. Bhullar, a senior forensic epidemiologist at the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office, and Thomas P. Gilson, chief medical examiner of Cuyahoga County.

“These findings paint a stark picture of the opioid crisis in our community,” Gilson said. “The tragic reality is that too many people are dying alone, and we must act swiftly to implement lifesaving measures that can prevent these unnecessary deaths.”

For more information, contact Colin McEwen .

Analysis on The Influence of Regional Economic Development on Civil Aviation Passenger Transport Market -- A Case Study of Chengdu-Chongqing Area

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The adoption of digital technologies by small and medium-sized enterprises for sustainability and value creation in pakistan: the application of a two-staged hybrid sem-ann approach.

1. Introduction

• RQ1: What is the impact of SMEs using various digital technologies on the creation of social and economic value?
• RQ2: How does the creation of social and economic value impact SME performance?

2. Theoretical Background

2.1. social media applications (smas), 2.2. ai-enabled applications (aeas), 2.3. big data analytics (bda), 2.4. iot applications (ioas), 2.5. blockchain applications (bcas), 2.6. economic value (ecv), 2.7. social value (sov), 2.8. sme performance, 3. hypothesis development, 3.1. social media applications (smas) and economic value and social value, 3.2. ai-enabled applications (aeas) and economic value and social value, 3.3. big data analytics (bda) and economic value and social value, 3.4. iot applications (ioas) and economic value and social value, 3.5. blockchain applications (bcas) and economic value and social value, 3.6. economic value (ecv) and sme performance, 3.7. social value (sov) and sme performance, 4. research methodology, 4.1. research design, 4.2. data collection: procedure and sample, 4.3. measures, 4.4. statistical analysis, 5.1. demographic characteristics, 5.2. measurement model evaluation, 5.3. structural model evaluation, 5.4. artificial neural network analysis, 5.5. ranking of predictors, 6. discussion, 6.1. theoretical implications, 6.2. practical implications, 7. conclusions, 7.1. limitations and future research, 7.2. future research directions, author contributions, institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, acknowledgments, conflicts of interest.

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Soomro, R.B.; Memon, S.G.; Dahri, N.A.; Al-Rahmi, W.M.; Aldriwish, K.; A. Salameh, A.; Al-Adwan, A.S.; Saleem, A. The Adoption of Digital Technologies by Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises for Sustainability and Value Creation in Pakistan: The Application of a Two-Staged Hybrid SEM-ANN Approach. Sustainability 2024 , 16 , 7351. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16177351

Soomro RB, Memon SG, Dahri NA, Al-Rahmi WM, Aldriwish K, A. Salameh A, Al-Adwan AS, Saleem A. The Adoption of Digital Technologies by Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises for Sustainability and Value Creation in Pakistan: The Application of a Two-Staged Hybrid SEM-ANN Approach. Sustainability . 2024; 16(17):7351. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16177351

Soomro, Raheem Bux, Sanam Gul Memon, Nisar Ahmed Dahri, Waleed Mugahed Al-Rahmi, Khalid Aldriwish, Anas A. Salameh, Ahmad Samed Al-Adwan, and Atif Saleem. 2024. "The Adoption of Digital Technologies by Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises for Sustainability and Value Creation in Pakistan: The Application of a Two-Staged Hybrid SEM-ANN Approach" Sustainability 16, no. 17: 7351. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16177351

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