NationStates Jolt Archive

http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/W/WarofWorldsradio.html :D

Why not?
I would immeadiately be sceptically of an single station reporting this.

I wonder what would happen if CNN hoaxed an alien attack. :)

Yes. this was really funny....

I think the reason it worked was because it was so well done, (Realism) and because most people tuned into the station just after it started. It sounded like a weather report... before the Invasion was announced.

The panic wasn't that big, well, not as much as later legend would have us believe. http://www.csicop.org/si/9811/martian.html

But it makes for good listening every Halloween!

I have this broadcast as a CD (bought s.t. in the U.S.) and I really enjoy listening to it ever once in a while - then again, today it would probably need some footage to go along with it...

If you look up "gullible", Welles starts talking to you ;)

Pinky and the Brain already tried to remake the broadcast on TV. Most people have become so desensitized to television that nobody believes anything they see on TV anymore.

lol, i read about that ages ago in my history textbook at school, still make sme laugh

Ah Mass Hysteria!

Auckland is under attack from killer bees
Manhatten is sinking!

Why not?
I would immeadiately be sceptically of an single station reporting this.
You're forgetting that back then, there were only a few stations operating. It's highly likely that some of the people frigthened by this only had access to one station. Also the time it was broadcast was a time of heightened paranoia about the Nazis and a possible war, so rational thought was well the list there.
At that time, little was known about Mars. Most people would have still thought that life could well exist there. So being invaded from them wasn't that too far-fetched.

A few years ago, one TV network did a god-awful pretend news bulletin about some big disaster (I forget what). It was so badly done it was laughable. I remember catching some of it at the time when surfing through the channels and it was obvious within a minute it was fake (the acting of the 'newscasters' I recall was truly terrible). It also wasn't on any other network, which certainly gave the hint that it was fake.
Didn't stop lots of people believing it, though. Caused quite a bit of panic among some.

I would think a 'news' report about, say, a terrorist attack on a nuclear facility would cause massive hysteria in the US about now.

All-in-all though, it is pretty funny reading about how scared some people got. :)

I wonder what would happen if CNN hoaxed an alien attack. :)
You'd change channels and see what other news are saying. In this age we've become so cynical and media savvy that I doubt the same thing can be pulled off.

Why not?
I would immeadiately be sceptically of an single station reporting this.

Back in the day, people were alot more trusting of their news and their leaders. This whole cynicism towards information came about slowly after WWII, but mostly after Vietnam.

You're forgetting that back then, there were only a few stations operating. It's highly likely that some of the people frigthened by this only had access to one station. Also the time it was broadcast was a time of heightened paranoia about the Nazis and a possible war, so rational thought was well the list there.
Also, at that time, little was known about Mars. Most people would have still thought that life could well exist there. So being invaded from them wasn't that too far-fetched.

A few years ago, one TV network did a god-awful pretend news bulletin about some big disaster (I forget what). It was so badly done it was laughable. I remember catching some of it at the time when surfing through the channels and it was obvious within a minute it was fake (the acting of the 'newscasters' I recall was truly terrible). It also wasn't on any other network, which certainly gave the hint that it was fake.
Didn't stop lots of people believing it, though. Caused quite a bit of panic among some.
I would think a 'news' report about, say, a terrorist attack on a nuclear facility would cause massive hysteria in the US about now.

All-in-all though, it is pretty funny reading about scared some people got. :)


Very true. The first time I heard it, my inherent English superiority caused me to laugh at American gullibility. Then I saw a 'similar' spoof on the BBC and people fell for it (not me of course, I'm too superior).

Also, Welles was a genius. Flawed, but genius nontheless.