War of the Worlds: Blog tasks

Media Factsheet

In 1938, the world was anxious as Germany planned to invade European countries and many people feared gas attacks from another world war. American broadcasters would often interrupt scheduled programming to discuss new updates from Europe. Welles's use of radio news conventions had more of an impact on listeners who were unaware that it was a fictional radio play.

The first broadcast was in 1938. At the time that the broadcast aired, it was suggested that Orson Welles’ radio adaption of War of the Worlds caused mass hysteria and resulted in residents questioning their safety. However, it was later discovered that this 'hysteria' was an exaggeration rather than fact.

The New York Times reported the events and the reactions under the headline “Radio Listeners in Panic, Taking War Drama as Fact.”. In the article, the New York Time suggested that may residents fled their homes in panic. 

Author Brad Schwartz describes the broadcast as being something "decades ahead of its time" and that it was "history's first viral media phenomenon"

Orson Welles uses hybrid genres and pastiche to blur the boundaries between fact and fiction, which leaves audiences shocked as they never expected it. 

During 1938 the world was anxious as Germany planned to invade European countries and many people feared gas attacks. This affected the way that audiences interpreted the show as it made them believe that an air raid, similar to Germany's, was occurring. 

War of the Worlds was broadcast by the CBS Radio network. Founded in 1927

8) Why might the newspaper industry have deliberately exaggerated the response to the broadcast?

It has been suggested that the newspaper industry deliberately exaggerated the response to the broadcast as a way to portray Radio (a new medium at the time) as something negative. 

9) Does War of the Worlds provide evidence to support the Frankfurt School's Hypodermic Needle theory?

Frankfurt's Shool's Hypodermic Needle theory is the belief that audiences tend to not question the media texts that are presented to them. Instead, they absorb the information and perceive it as fully factual. Evidence of this is shown through the War of the Worlds broadcast. Many listeners of the broadcast instantly believed it without questioning.

Gerbner's cultivation theory can also be applied to the broadcast. Gerbner's theory suggests that media texts have a slight influence on viewer mindsets and subtly alters audiences perceptions on how they view the world. Before the War of the World broadcast, many American broadcasters interrupted scheduled programming to inform listeners of potential attacks. This changed how the viewers perceived every interruption as they were, over time, conditioned to be worried during every broadcast interruption.

 

Applying Hall's Reception Theory to War of the Worlds, the preferred reading could be that Orsen Welles would just want to morph fiction and non-fiction to create something artistic and unique, whereas the oppositional reading could be that Orsen Welles used the broadcast the evoke fear into the audience.

I do not believe that media products still retain the ability to fool audiences similar to how War of Worlds did in 1938. The digital media landscape has changed this. We no longer rely on the type of media source to get our information. Any fake news or an attempt to evoke fear into audiences would be debunked. 

Analysis and opinion

I believe that the 1938 broadcast of War of the Worlds has become such a significant moment in media history as radio was a new form of media and this was the moment that stunned a whole country.

The newspapers exaggeration of the audience's reaction is a greater example of 'fake news'. It was New York Times intention to discredit the radio format so they created a bigger situation than it was. Orsen did not intentionally want to scare the audience

I agree with Frankfurts School's Hypodermic Needle Theory. Although it is not that prominent now, many people still tend to intake media without questioning the authenticity of it. 

The digital media age has made the Hypodermic needle theory less relevant. People are not so reliant on one type of media source. Social media has allowed people to become more aware of what is occurring in the world. This makes it less easy to indoctrinate the minds of people that consume media texts.

I do agree with George Gerbner's Cultivation theory, that suggests exposure to the media has a gradual but significant effect on the audience's views and beliefs. It is prevalent on social media. Social media has drastically changed the way that certain people perceive aspects of life