Orson Welles's 'The War of the Worlds' Radio Broadcast

The radio drama demonstrated both the power and the risks of realistic audio journalism.

On 30 October 1938, the American CBS radio network broadcast an adaptation of H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds. Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre on the Air used the format of news bulletins to tell a fictional story of a Martian invasion.

Listeners who tuned in after the beginning and missed the explanation that the programme was fictional sometimes interpreted individual reports as genuine. The broadcast demonstrated how persuasive fiction could sound when presented in an authoritative news format.

Later researchers questioned the popular story of nationwide mass panic: contemporary newspapers often exaggerated the scale of the reaction. Reports of anxiety among some listeners and calls to public institutions, however, were real.

The event became an important milestone in the history of broadcasting, media literacy and debates over editorial responsibility. For CHRONOS, it is also an example of radio's social influence on the eve of the world war.

Source: View historical source ↗