Week 2 Blog Post- Old Newspaper Stereotype Analysis

            As a child growing up in Minnesota, the state of hockey, my dad always gloated about the "miracle on ice" when the US Olympic men's ice hockey team defeated the world-renowned Soviet team in Lake Placid 1980 Winter Olympics February 22nd, 1980. He always says that it was a moment he would never forget and was one of the most patriotic moments in his life. Before this upset, the Soviet ice hockey team had won the gold medal six out of the past seven Olympic games. Hence, this was a really big deal. Not to mention the US team was mostly college-aged amateurs. Although the victory was exciting, the reason why it was so significant was the fact that at this moment in history, the Cold War was going on. There was extreme tension between the democratic US and the communist USSR. Putting it simply, the United States thought the Soviet reign and communism was going to expand across the entire world and therefore, the US felt obligated to intervene and prevent the Soviets from expanding communism. Being from the state of hockey, and an ice hockey fan myself, I was intrigued by how this particular event was publicized and stereotyped compared to other stories on the front page, specifically those relating to tensions with the USSR and Iran. Throughout the Daily Globe newspaper's February 23rd, 1980 report, printed in Ironwood, Michigan, there are reoccurring stereotypes found within each article that compliment and promote one another.
              The first article on the page that I was drawn to as a reader was the article about the "miracle on ice" in the top right corner, with a picture of some of the team members celebrating. There were some stereotypes, such as stereotypes going along with college students as well as Soviet players. Although they were celebrating, by stating that the US team was primarily college students, the normal connotations of a youth, spirit and hope was emphasized. This particular article contained lots of imagery and visually appealing detail. It depicted fans dancing in the streets, chanting "USA", shooting off fireworks, embracing and even President Carter's enthusiastic invitation to have the team join him for some coke at the White House. The sources also appeared extremely enthusiastic, patriotic, male and non-official and stereotyped to be the typical American hockey fan, which causes the reader to perceive the event as relatable and become proud to be an American citizen such as the people quoted. These depictions show how the media used this event to promote patriotism and hope in a time of tension and fear. It was almost as if this game was a won battle in the theoretical war that was the Cold War. Ironically, this wasn't even the final game in the series and the US team still had to play Finland in order to win the gold. But again, the reaction to this event shows how strong the tension between the US and USSR in order to gain so much media coverage. I mean let's be real, it was even turned into a Disney movie over 20 years later.
                The other big story on the top of the front page was about the Iranian Revolution and the struggle to release the American hostages. I found this particular section of the front page to be intriguing because it was placed directly next to the picture of the US hockey team's victory. It primarily stereotyped Iran and revolutionary leader Khomeini as the 'bad guy' who is keeping the Americans hostage and supports the take over of the US embassy because he believes that the USA is "world-devouring". Whereas, on the contrary, the UN and CIA are stereotyped as innocent 'good people' who are merely doing everything they can to free these citizens, even though that may not be the case. These stereotypes are definitely enhanced by the hockey article because when the audience is at a point of extreme patriotism, they are going to react to news like this patriotically. They are going to believe that the UN and US government are making negotiations, even though the details of the negotiations throughout the article are explained very vaguely and cling to the translated quotes of Khomeini to defend the idea that he is responsible for the hostages. Also, the language in this article is more straightforward and harsh compared to the imagery-filled and patriotic language in the hockey article. This contrast allows the reader to again have stronger feelings of American patriotism towards the world issues.

                 The other section of the front page that interested me was the section about the continued fighting in Afghanistan, located at the very bottom of the page. This section contained stereotype about the people involved in the violence, the Soviets, and President Carter. First, the people involved in the violence were categorized as people who were protesting against the Soviets. The sources in this case however were extremely non-official and there so-called "eyewitness" accounts of the amount of dead people is extremely vague. There was no exact casualty number, only accounts of people who said they saw "over 50 dead bodies lined up for burial" in the hospital. The fact that it was and "eyewitness" account makes it credible for the reader, however it is not a very valid way to account for the dead. Second, the Soviets are stereotyped through their president's remarks about President Carter in which he claimed he caused "anti-Soviet hysteria" in Afghanistan. This enticing comment coincidentally reintroduced the stereotype of President Carter from the hockey article in which he was depicted as a patriotic, hockey-loving guy. Readers may wonder, how could someone insult President Carter when he just supported my home team and even invited them to the White House for some coke? And also believe that the Soviet president has no right to blame him for the fighting over in Afghanistan. This mentality produced by the earlier article reveals how the media utilized the stereotype of one article to compliment and promote another section in a particular way.
                There were other sections on the front page that involved firefighter strikes in Chicago and Milwaukee, social security, as well as a local car accident. Some of these sections contained stereotypes. For example, in the firefighter article, they emphasized the recent fire incidents with pictures and descriptions in which there were causalities and deaths in order to convince the reader that the strike meant danger to them and their neighborhood. However, the social security story as well as the local accident were pretty straightforward and didn't have any strong stereotypes.

Bibliography:
           Associated Press. "Daily Globe, Saturday, February 23, 1980, Page 1." Daily Globe, Saturday, February 23, 1980 : Front Page. Daily Globe, 22 Feb. 1980. Web. 09 Sept. 2014.