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?
Historically, War Of The Worlds was a novel written by H. G. Wells in 1898. This was a sci-fi genre novel about an alien invasion on earth by martians who bring some sort of infection to earth causing their red weeds to start growing all over the earth.
2) When was it first broadcast and what is the popular myth regarding the reaction from the audience?
Several years after the production of the novel, they released the first broadcast in 1938
The popular myth from the audience related to the release was that many people believed that it was a real thing happening and caused them to go out into the streets looking for the martians.
3) How did the New York Times report the reaction the next day?
The day after the live broadcast, The new york times released an article regarding the 'mass wave of hysteria ' underlining the broadcast as a negative thing mentioning how it caused disturbances in households and scared children and what not. Many and myself included believe that this was done to shut down or 'cancel' the radio industry since during that time, that was their biggest competitors.
4) How did author Brad Schwartz describe the the broadcast and its reaction?
he suggested that the hysteria it caused was not entirely a myth. “Instead it was something decades ahead of its time. He argued that “the stories of those whom the show frightened offer a fascinating window onto how users engage with media content, spreading and reinterpreting it to suit their own world views.'
5) Why did Orson Welles use hybrid genres and pastiche and what effect might it have had on the audience?
He wanted to create a media piece that could appeal to both listeners of radio as well as people who enjoy watching films, he wanted this broadcast to be widely accepted by a large diverse audience.He used pastiche by borrowing radio aspects and bringing it to a novel. I think that it was a good concept but audiences from that time might have been more taken aback by that since its not something constructed like anything else.
6) How did world events in 1938 affect the way audiences interpreted the show?
This was around the time that German Nazis were invading countries ( a year before ww1) and so many people, pretty much everyone was on edge as they could have been the next invaded country. With these events happening and a second world war about to erupt, a live fiction broadcast that 1 in 12 people believed was true, caused the audience to get paranoid and afraid that they're getting invaded
7) Which company broadcast War of the Worlds in 1938?
CBS Mercury
8) Why might the newspaper industry have deliberately exaggerated the response to the broadcast?
As i previously mentioned, this was the time that radio started to take over the newspaper industry and people started listening to the radio rather than read newspaper. I believe that the newspaper articles exaggerated the situation to cause the downfall of radio and restore their relevancy.
9) Does War of the Worlds provide evidence to support the Frankfurt School's Hypodermic Needle theory?
I don't think that there's a definite answer to this but there definitely ere some factors that contributed to supporting the hypodermic needle theory as they were making sure to let the viewers know that the following broadcast is fake in which people believed it however the people who didn't hear these announcements believed it so yes it does to an extent.
10) How might Gerbner's cultivation theory be applied to the broadcast?
Again, this can be linked with the German invasions as it links with the real world and shows the listeners that if an invasion was to happen, thats how things would play out.
11) Applying Hall's Reception Theory, what could be the preferred and oppositional readings of the original broadcast?
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?
The Blair Witch Project, a low-budget movie made by two young filmmakers in the late 1990s, was influenced by Orson Welles' 1938 broadcast. The film created controversy among viewers about whether the allegedly faked "found footage" filmed by three student filmmakers who vanish while producing a documentary on a local legend (the Blair Witch) was indeed true. although i think now post 2020, itll be much harder to convince a large audience such as war of the worlds did.
Analysis and opinion
9) Does War of the Worlds provide evidence to support the Frankfurt School's Hypodermic Needle theory?
I don't think that there's a definite answer to this but there definitely ere some factors that contributed to supporting the hypodermic needle theory as they were making sure to let the viewers know that the following broadcast is fake in which people believed it however the people who didn't hear these announcements believed it so yes it does to an extent.
10) How might Gerbner's cultivation theory be applied to the broadcast?
Again, this can be linked with the German invasions as it links with the real world and shows the listeners that if an invasion was to happen, thats how things would play out.
11) Applying Hall's Reception Theory, what could be the preferred and oppositional readings of the original broadcast?
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?
The Blair Witch Project, a low-budget movie made by two young filmmakers in the late 1990s, was influenced by Orson Welles' 1938 broadcast. The film created controversy among viewers about whether the allegedly faked "found footage" filmed by three student filmmakers who vanish while producing a documentary on a local legend (the Blair Witch) was indeed true. although i think now post 2020, itll be much harder to convince a large audience such as war of the worlds did.
Analysis and opinion
1) Why do you think the 1938 broadcast of War of the Worlds has become such a significant moment in media history?
It demonstrated how simple it is for the media to influence and deceive the public. The fact that they were able to compare using the radio to deceive individuals into making over 2000 calls to the police only served to demonstrate how readily the target population can be persuaded by carefully crafted media items. this is likely a spark that caused us in the most recent generations to become sceptical of the media.
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?
Yes i do i believe that in any theory there's some truth embedded within it like with the hypodermic needle theory, maybe not everyone is influenced by the media but a lot of people are.
4) Has the digital media age made the Hypodermic Needle model more or less relevant? Why?
The importance of the incident was influenced by Orson Welles' use of radio conventions to generate realism and the media' amplification of the audience response. Welles employed cutting-edge strategies to make the broadcast plausible, but the newspapers took advantage of it to malign radio as a source of news.
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?
Yes i do i believe that in any theory there's some truth embedded within it like with the hypodermic needle theory, maybe not everyone is influenced by the media but a lot of people are.
4) Has the digital media age made the Hypodermic Needle model more or less relevant? Why?
The Hypodermic Needle model is less applicable in the age of digital media since audiences may now access a broad variety of information sources, check the accuracy of sources, and critically evaluate content. However, it has also brought about fresh difficulties, such as the increase of false material on online platforms.
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