‘I think journalism is a fairly young industry and consequently most don’t have much interest in stories impacting older Australians.’ These respondents were of the view that the availability of more voices and spokespeople for older people would improve the visibility of older Australians and their stories and assist with shaping more balanced and representative media coverage. There was a clear appetite among the media professionals interviewed for more proactive leadership and media engagement from the organisations representing older Australians. ‘I think older people lack those champions out there in the media. I think it’s really important that we have more voices in the media representing older Australians.’ ‘We are very reliant on organisations to put people forward for comment on stories but with organisations that represent older people they don’t necessarily put spokespeople forward for us to speak to.’ ‘I think more vocal and prominent voices or spokespeople would help better shape the coverage.’ ‘Most relevant organisations aren’t even reactive, they are just silent and invisible. I think the conversation would be improved if these organisations were proactive.’ Qualitative interviews 31