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?

History: Broadcasted 1938 30th of October whilst people were wary of world war 2., caused hysteria.

Narrative: Alien invasion of Martians from mars.

2) When was it first broadcast and what is the popular myth regarding the reaction from the audience?

1938 30th October

It created a Hysteria across the population and that the broadcasting was not a hoax sprung on unsuspecting audiences.

3) How did the New York Times report the reaction the next day?

They reported the hoax as a real news and 'historical' event that occurred in that time.

4) How did author Brad Schwartz describe the the broadcast and its reaction?

He describes it as 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?

 To blur the boundaries between fact and fiction in a way that audiences have never experienced. It had a negative and interesting effect on the audience as they believed everything and it caused hysteria.

6) How did world events in 1938 affect the way audiences interpreted the show?

In 1938 people were scared/ waiting for world war 2 which already had them on edge about the end of the world, so hearing a story that was created to sound like a news report only scared them more and led to audiences believing the world was going to end. 

7) Which company broadcast War of the Worlds in 1938?

CBS: Columbia broadcasting service.

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

To captivate more audiences

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

Yes and no. Yes because audiences believed what they were hearing without any actual proof or evidence but no because it was only because of build up fears that was previously stored by Germany.

10) How might Gerbner's cultivation theory be applied to the broadcast?

Mean world syndrome - the listeners have constantly been hearing on the news and broadcast services about possible war threats and murder that has been happening in europe so their perspective on the world has shifted from safe to on the brink of being destroyed with many lives ending, so believing they were very susceptible to believing the broadcast.

11) Applying Hall's Reception Theory, what could be the preferred and oppositional readings of the original broadcast?

The preferred reading would be that the broadcast is entertaining

The negotiated reading would be to realise you shouldn't believe everything you hear, like a lesson

The oppositional reading would be that New Jersey was in fact being taken over by Martians.

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?

`Yes it does have the ability to fool audiences but not to the extent War of the Worlds did back in 1938, this is because people are more aware of the media and how most news is probably fake and they know which sites to listen to and believe if necessary such as BBC.

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? 

The story was told in an unconventional way to make it sound real, and considering that the radio was the main source people used to gain intel on situations in europe and around the world due to lack of food, great depression and the war.

2) How did newspapers present the story? 

They made it to be believed that it was done on purpose.

3) How does the article describe the rise of radio?

As a corruption 

4) What does the article say about regulation of radio in the 1930s? 

There was no regulation

5) How does the article apply media theories to the WOTW? Give examples.

Reception theory: How the audience took the story - most took it as real and started panicking

Cultivation theory: People's thoughts and beliefs based on how long they've consuming and certain type of media -  they been consuming updates on wars, food, depression.

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.

Fake radio war stirs terror

Hysteria sweeps country as radio hoax describes invasion by mars giants

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?

Because of the hysteria it created at the time. It also showed how technology can alter people's behaviours and beliefs.

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?

Newspapers exaggerating the audience reaction to discredit the video was faker, because the news writers only took the event as an opportunity to get more readers so whether or not they spread the correct information wasn't an aim but rather an excuse.

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?

No, yes there was a point where people believed everything and that was when media was just being introduced to the world. This is because people were so used to whatever information they received (on paper or on radio etc) to being automatically true, the idea of the media being fake or spreading fake information wasn't an expectation of theirs. 

4) Has the digital media age made the Hypodermic Needle model more or less relevant? Why?

Less relevant, because people and society are used to technology and the media now and majority uses it for entertainment so there is no need to believe everything and know not to take everything seriously, however, even if someone uses it for educational purposes or for information it has already been made clear what sites are trust worthy or not.

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.

Yes, for example his theory on mean world syndrome. People only develop that if all they listen to is true crime or unsolved cases.

6) Is Gerbner's Cultivation theory more or less valid today than it would have been in 1938? Why?

I think it is just as valid as it was then now, but it will take longer to form a dominant opinion purely through the media as there is many things people take in at once on  a basis for a long period of time.