War of the Worlds CSP
Media Factsheet
Read Media Factsheet #176: CSP Radio - War of the Worlds. You'll need your Greenford Google login to download it. Then answer the following questions:
1) What is the history and narrative behind War of the Worlds?
It is often highlighted as an early example of mass hysteria caused by the media and used to support various audience theories.
The New York Times headline read, “Radio Listeners in Panic, Taking War Drama as Fact.”
The Trenton Police Department. (close to the site of the fictional invasion) received over 2000 calls in less than two hours, while the New York Times switchboard received 875 calls from concerned listeners wanting to know where they would be safe.
2) When was it first broadcast and what is the popular myth regarding the reaction from the audience?
The broadcast went live 30th October 1938, popular myth has it that thousands of New Yorkers fled their homes in panic, and all across America people crowded the streets to witness for themselves the real space battle between earth and the Martians.
The broadcast went live 30th October 1938, popular myth has it that thousands of New Yorkers fled their homes in panic, and all across America people crowded the streets to witness for themselves the real space battle between earth and the Martians.
3) How did the New York Times report the reaction the next day?
“ a score of adults required medical treatment for shock and hysteria”
he says "it was something decades ahead of its time: history’s first viral-media phenomenon.”
5) Why did Orson Welles use hybrid genres and pastiche and what effect might it have had on the audience?
By borrowing conventions of the radio newscast and mixing it with traditional storytelling he creates a hybrid genre of narratives and his use of pastiche furthers this. With Welles blurring the lines between fiction and fact he created a shockingly awe-striking reaction from the audience.
6) How did world events in 1938 affect the way audiences interpreted the show?
6) How did world events in 1938 affect the way audiences interpreted the show?
The Hindenburg Disaster(live coverage in 1937), 36 deaths/35 casualties, plane caught on fire during landing, Germany's mobilisation in Europe and in September 1938, one month prior to the plays broadcast, Hitler signed the Munich Agreement annexing portions of Czechoslovakia and creating the ‘Sudetenland’. With all of these events going on at the time the audience most likely interpreted the show as a serious event
7) Which company broadcast War of the Worlds in 1938?
Columbia Broadcasting System(CBS)
7) Which company broadcast War of the Worlds in 1938?
Columbia Broadcasting System(CBS)
8) Why might the newspaper industry have deliberately exaggerated the response to the broadcast?
To demonise the emerging radio industry as they were stealing there advertising revenue
9) Does War of the Worlds provide evidence to support the Frankfurt School's Hypodermic Needle theory?
Although there was largescale mass hysteria produced from the radios broadcast, I think the audiences reaction provides evidence for the two-step flow model, a prominent counter theory. With interpersonal influence the ideas that flow through the mass media to opinion leaders. And then the general public through personal discussions and interactions, indicating that people are not simply just passive consumers of media messages
10) How might Gerbner's cultivation theory be applied to the broadcast?
The theory suggests long term exposure to the media shapes how consumers perception of reality. The audiences were already susceptible to the phrase "we interrupt this broadcast"(a phrase that was said before a potential invasion from the Germans at the time). Welles saying this phrase during the plays broadcast then elicited this strong response from the audience.
11) Applying Hall's Reception Theory, what could be the preferred and oppositional readings of the original broadcast?
The preferred reading that Welles wanted was for the audience to take the broadcast for what it was, a play, fiction, entertainment. However the oppositional reading that the broadcast enabled was mass hysteria
The preferred reading that Welles wanted was for the audience to take the broadcast for what it was, a play, fiction, entertainment. However the oppositional reading that the broadcast enabled was mass hysteria
12) Do media products still retain the ability to fool audiences as it is suggested War of the Worlds did in 1938? Has the digital media landscape changed this?
It is still very possible for the media landscape to fool audiences, even more so with the emergence of AI
Media Magazine article on War of the Worlds
Read this excellent article on War of the Worlds in Media Magazine. You can find it in our Media Magazine archive - issue 69, page 10. Answer the following questions:
1) What reasons are provided for why the audience may have been scared by the broadcast in 1938?
People believed what the radio said as the truth
2) How did newspapers present the story?
They presented it to be a 'hoax'
3) How does the article describe the rise of radio?
advertisers had deserted newspapers for radio
4) What does the article say about regulation of radio in the 1930s?
"Just like the introduction of new media today, older generations feared the corruption of the young with uncensored, unregulated radio content"
5) How does the article apply media theories to the WOTW? Give examples.
Banduras social learning theory - proves the media can directly affect us
Gerbner's cultivation theory - proves that through repetition the media can elicit certain responses from us
6) Look at the box on page 13 of real newspaper headlines. Pick out two and write them here - you could use these in an exam answer.
'Radio fake scares nation'
'Radio terror brings panic in all areas; people lose all control'
'Fake radio war stirs terror'
A/A* Extension tasks: Analysis and opinion questions
1) Why do you think the 1938 broadcast of War of the Worlds has become such a significant moment in media history?
2) War of the Worlds feels like a 1938 version of 'fake news'. But which is the greater example of fake news - Orson Welles's use of radio conventions to create realism or the newspapers exaggerating the audience reaction to discredit radio?
3) Do you agree with the Frankfurt School's Hypodermic Needle theory? If not, was there a point in history audiences were more susceptible to believing anything they saw or heard in the media?
4) Has the digital media age made the Hypodermic Needle model more or less relevant? Why?
5) Do you agree with George Gerbner's Cultivation theory - that suggests exposure to the media has a gradual but significant effect on audience's views and beliefs? Give examples to support your argument.
6) Is Gerbner's Cultivation theory more or less valid today than it would have been in 1938? Why?
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