24 Hour News Report, Essay Example

Even though we live in an aging society, and the fastest-growing segment of our population is the 65+ category, there is still not always a great deal of coverage on the elderly or issues effecting them.  For this report, I read through a major, statewide newspaper and watched a typical half-hour evening news program, and while there were some stories that were relevant to aging and the elderly, it was by no means a subject of major coverage.  Here is what I found.

Summary of NBC Nightly News Airing May 30

NBC is a nationally broadcast 30-minute nightly news program.  The episode I watched aired on the evening of May 30^th.  Of the 30 minute news program, fully 9 minutes was given over to commercials.  Of the 21 minutes left, approximately 10 minutes and 30 seconds were dedicated to politics/national news, 2 minutes 15 seconds to sports, 2 minutes 30 seconds to health and medicine and 6 minutes to popular culture and entertainment.  However, the lead story – comprising a full 4 minutes and 30 seconds and the longest story on this news did in fact involved the elderly and aging (at least indirectly): it was the story partly about Shinseki resigning from the VA and partly about the plight of veterans (especially elderly veterans from the Vietnam and Korean Wars) trying to get healthcare through the VA system.  In addition to this, there were two shorter pieces that had to do with aging and the elderly: a 10 second clip about a World War veteran who made footage of the war and the footage was discovered recently by his son in the family attack and another 10 second clip about Dick Van Dyke keeping active at 88.  Overall, out of the 21 non-commercial minutes in this news program, 4 minutes and 50 seconds (nearly a quarter of the program) had something to with aging or the elderly (NBC News, 2014).

Summary of Democrat Gazette, May 31^st Edition

The newspaper I read was the Democrat Gazette, a major daily newspaper which is distributed state-wide.  The newspaper has 7 sections and a total of 50 pages.  The first section, covering national and international news, had a quarter-column on page 1 and additional full page on page three of Shenseki quitting the VA and again had a lot of coverage in this story on how the elderly veterans (as well as new vets from Iraq or Afghanistan) were effected (Jones, 2014, p. 3).  In addition, there was a quarter-column page on Medicare coverage for a sex-change operation from a 74-year-old transgender veteran who had brought suit over this issue and won in court.   (Brendeis, 2014, p.4). Section B, covering local news, had an article about the continued financial health of the Public Employee Retirement System and, in their editorials, a half-column about the death of Maya Angelou (Horiot,  2014, p. 6).   Sections C (Sports) and D (Farm and Business) had not relevant articles, but Section E (Home and Garden) had a half-page in the back of the section on renovating bathrooms for elderly parents (Crills, 2014, p.8). Sections F (Automotive) and G (Classifieds) had no relevant coverage.

Concluding Thoughts

I was actually surprised, going through the newspaper and watching the nightly news, at the fact that there was more coverage on aging and elderly topics than I thought that there would be. I chose the newspaper and the television broadcast completely at random, and I think I just happened to get lucky because of the stories about the VA scandal and the death of Maya Angelou were just happening to get major coverage at the time.  I actually read the paper fairly regularly, and watching live streaming of news broadcasts at least a few times a week and generally I do not see that much coverage on these topics.  We are generally a culture of youth, and it is youth-related issues that generally get the most attention in modern society.

References

Brendeis, L. (2014, May 31).  Medicare OK’s Sex Change Surgery.  The Democrat Gazette. 4A

Crills, M. (2014, May 31).  Making Bathrooms Safer for Mom and Dad. The Democrat Gazette. 8E

Holey, B. (Producer). (2014, May 30).  NBC Nightly News.  [Television Broadcast].  New York, NY: National Broadcasting Company.

Horiot, J. (2014, May 31).  Tribute to Maya Angelou.  The Democrat Gazette. p. 6B

Jones, M.  (2014, May 31).  Shenseki Resigns. The Democrat Gazette. p. 3A