‘I haven’t done a lot of reporting on ageing issues since the Royal Commission. I think since then aged care has been left by mainstream media. It’s something I have been thinking about doing more on but, at the moment, it’s all about energy.’ ‘I think the last time there was a deliberate and fairly sustained focus on reporting on issues affecting older Australians was during COVID because the health risks were obviously greater for the elderly, particularly those with chronic conditions. A couple of years before COVID there was obviously the Royal Commission into aged care which was also a story that had a very strong focus on issues principally impacting the elderly.’ ‘During the Royal Commission we put a lot of people on it because it was a big yarn and a lot of human stories. Since then, there hasn’t been a particular focus on coverage. During COVID we tried to cover all angles, from school children to the elderly, so it wasn’t a specific focus just on the elderly, but we did a lot on it given the health risks, particularly in aged care, but also the isolation for many.’ Many of the interviewees said that although there are fewer stories specifically about older people compared to those crisis times, or exclusively on ageing and ageism, other issues considered to be of primary interest to older people are covered well. These include topics such as superannuation, financial security in retirement, and access to health care and services. ‘We cover relevant issues like health and retirement income and asset values like property. Probably the closest we get to reporting specifically impacting the aged is employment equity stories, people in the later parts of their career being unemployed or underemployed and the broader consequences of that.’ ‘We probably cover issues of interest to older Australians more than any other media, it’s a piece of the market we have got to our own. Superannuation stories rate very well for us, property finance too.’ ‘There’s a fair bit of coverage of issues around superannuation which impacts every worker of all ages but is obviously more relevant to those who are retired or in the later stages of their working life.’ ‘I don’t think there’s a conscious decision to cover stories specifically for our older audience but there are stories that are obviously of more interest such as superannuation or self-managed funds and, in our coverage, we are mindful of that and probably backend the story with data that is likely to be relevant and useful.’ 22 Shaping Perceptions: How Australian Media Reports on Ageing