"War of the Worlds" Rebroadcast

Story: "Orson Welles' 'War of the Worlds' Halloween Broadcast Revived":
Article published in 1938:Radio Listeners in Panic, Taking War Drama as Fact
Date: October 30, 2009


Summary:

This article is probably not the most interesting in recent years (as compared to the Halloween parade in Washington), but if we looked into the "War of the Worlds" script and the nationwide panic its first radio broadcast created back in 1938, we can see the usage of many journalistic idea and the transformation process our information system has gone through over time.
First of all, the original radio broadcast that was made in 1938 was rebroadcast again online this past Thursday night at 8:00 pm; the exact time it had started seventy-one years ago. Although I missed the chance of hearing that, I saw and heard a similar version of it in the Staller Center around the same time.
Similar to what we have been taught in class, the reporters in the story verified their information. They sent a reporter to the scene, talked to the astronomy professor, interviewed the secretary of interior, and transmitted live talks from the battlefield. These were exactly the reasons why many people — those who tuned into the channel after the station declared it was sci-fi— believed in the story. Upon hearing the broadcast in 1938, "Many Flee Homes to Escape 'Gas Raid From Mars'" and "Phone Calls Swamp Police at Broadcast of Wells Fantasy" (The New York Times 1938). Moreover, a lot of people called The New York Times, The A.P., and other press office to inquire about the subject. Though some among them did try to verify the issue, "...large numbers, obviously in a state of terror, asked how they could follow the broadcast's advice and flee from the city... (The New York Times 1938)."
That same theme will not be seem today; in the current e-centuries. Among many changes, one is the second largest evolution of information system: the widespread of internet. Not only can we read a news that just happened several minutes ago, we can also read about the same subject on a different website and evaluate the articles altogether. Now, it is harder for us to believe in a similar and absurd story account without first criticizing it first.


11/ 1/ 2009