There was a repeated view that journalists are unable to spend adequate time on stories around ageing and ageism because of limited resources in newsrooms and expectations of output despite reduced staff numbers. ‘We really are day to day coverage now and we don’t have the resources to properly plan coverage and reporting unless there’s something that is coming up and we know our audience is interested in like the Olympics and who our medal hopes are, that sort of thing.’ ‘The problem with the modern newsroom is we have to do more with less. There was a time when as a journalist you could spend a few days working on a story on important issues like aged care access or financial security in retirement. But now that we have such depleted newsrooms, you have to write and file a couple of stories every day, so you just don’t have the opportunity to dedicate the time and energy these stories deserve.’ ‘We did have a journalist specialising in these issues … but alas she was one of the first to go when we had the first round of redundancies in 2012 which kind of speaks to what management thought about that round as a speciality.’ (c) ‘Things we don’t do well’ There was unprompted acknowledgement from many interviewees that there are some things the media generally does not do well when it comes to reporting on issues around ageing and ageism, including an acceptance that ‘click bait’ headlines can be a feature of some media coverage. These interviewees admitted ‘click bait’ headlines that capitalised on a real or perceived ‘generational war’ or tension, resulted in strong audience traffic to their platforms, and more subscriptions. ‘Put ‘Boomer’ into a headline and you’ll get a heap of clicks. Younger subscribers read them because they feel aggrieved about what they see as the easier path the elderly have had with housing, free education and asset accumulation and because the headline pisses off older subscribers they click the link too.’ ‘There is always a temptation in media to report on the ‘generational war’ between Boomers and Generations Y and Z. Stories about Boomers ‘living large’ at the expense of younger generations are good click bait and generate a lot of on-line traffic which unfortunately encourages newsrooms to pursue more stories reporting on that conflict and tension.’ ‘There’s definitely ‘click bait’ – that’s the business model for a lot of platforms because it works, for the same reason ice cream stores don’t sell spinach flavoured ice cream.’ 24 Shaping Perceptions: How Australian Media Reports on Ageing