The first working group meeting on “Dementia and the Media” took place on Valentine’s Day 2019, in Vienna. It was organised by GÖG, Gesundheit Österreich GmbH, which also led on the creation of the Austrian dementia strategy “Living well with Dementia”. During this meeting, one of the recommendations of the second objective of the strategy was realised: the development of a code of good-practice for media information.
It was agreed upon, at the beginning, that a guideline for dementia-sensitive coverage in the media should be developed. Core messages, structures, contents and any existing background were discussed. The importance of this project was underlined by some examples from recent articles in newspapers and films, that contained images and messages about loss, fading light or darkness, cold winter and only very old people in nursing homes, when covering the field of dementia. The picture of the head with the leaves falling from it was a further stigmatising example of the dementia depiction. The importance of focusing on resources and competences was recorded, as was the need to show the variety of persons with dementia, not only people living with the late stages of the disease.
Living well with dementia depends very much on the context in which people find themselves, and what is associated with them by those surrounding them. Therefore, the media plays an important role in dealing responsibly with the topic, by respecting the dignity of people with dementia. Language guidelines for interviewers and supporters should be included. It is necessary to show the person, not the disease. Misleading headlines like “Healing Alzheimer’s next year” should be banned, as the contrary is written in small print at the end of the article. It raises unjustified hope in patients and carers. 12 categories were determined for the guide, and members of the working group were invited to contribute to them with examples of good practice, citations and links. A draft should be ready before summer this year and feedback gathered from a variety of stakeholders and discussed at the meeting.
