Andrew Crissell – ‘Understanding Radio’ book.

Quote – ‘Radio is a blind medium’

Context – During the time war of the worlds was released (1930s) events such as the great depression and WW2 had occured. In addition, leaders such as Hitler and Stalin were also in power. Therefore when the radio host refer to ‘alien’ he could be refering to one of these political factors rather than actual aliens.

J.McDougall – ‘Hard times are a breeding ground for misinformation’

J.McDougall – ‘There are always points historically where populations have been discontented or economic harships have been exacerbated.

War of the worlds is a key example of fake news (propaganda)

• Narrated and directed by Orsen Welles, made it sound like a news program but it’s fiction (language)
• The radio broadcast was an adaption of H. G. Wells’s novel -‘The War of the Worlds’.
• A Halloween episode for a radio drama series “The Mercury Theatre on the Air.” – October 30th 1938
• The episode became famous for allegedly causing panic among its listening audience, though the scale of that panic is disputed, as the program had relatively few listeners.
• Described as an anti-warfare (representation)
• Hybrid Genre (Steve Neale)
• Broadcasted by CBS
• Plot = Normal Radio to stories about aliens which are metaphors for global matters
• Suspending disbelief

Stanley Cohen – Wrote a book called ‘Folk Devils and Moral Panic’ – Did masses amounts of people actually panic or was the amount of paic fake news?

Same paradigm now and 100+ years ago

Orsen Welles – ‘People shouldn’t Swallow everything that came through the tap whether it was radio or not’

J.McDougall – ‘CBS cast a disclaimer prior to the narrative starting, stating clearly that this would be fiction’

J.McDougall – ‘The mediation of the panic is amplified and reactivated a much-exaggerated version of the real issue’

Board Quotes –

‘Contemporary ideas of Fake News‘

‘ fact and fiction is often blurred and relies upon audience members recognising and understanding specific codes and conventions that relate to each Media Language.’

‘ Recognising the particular social and historical moment that this media text was produced is significant, so was this a comment on the ability of the mass media to create propaganda and manipulate a compliant and vulnerable mass audience’

section c 30% overall exam andrew crissell understanding radio: ‘radio is a blind medium= you cant see it (you have images and pictures in your head).

war of the worlds may seem to be about aliens but it is not it may be about communist Europe fascist Russia.

‘hard times are a breeding ground for misinformation’ (j.mcdougall)

1. Anxious era

The broadcast tapped into the anxiety of the time. Just ahead of World War II, much of the world was nearly — or already — at war when the program aired. 

“The War of the Worlds” was the 17th episode of the CBS Radio series The Mercury Theatre on the Air, which was broadcast at 8 pm ET on Sunday, October 30, 1938.

directed and narrated by actor and future filmmaker Orson Welles as an adaptation of H. G. Wells’s novel The War of the Worlds (1898).

It was performed and broadcast live as a Halloween episode at 8 p.m. on Sunday, October 30, 1938, over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. The episode became famous for allegedly causing panic among its listening audience, though the scale of that panic is disputed, as the program had relatively few listeners

early exampke of hybrid radio film. (stephen neale)

suspending disbelief

(stanley cohen) folk devil& ‘moral panics ‘

 In this instance, the Language of Radio is used creatively to structure a text that could be taken as fact, but is clearly fiction. 

j.mcdougall: The conventions of news reports were adapted for dramatic realism so for the audience to suspend disbelief and engage in the plot as though it was subject to radio journalism

• Andrew Crissell wrote a book called Understanding Radio
• ‘Determine the distinctive characteristics of the radio medium’
• ‘Blind Medium’

Aliens metaphor – resemble something else

• Hyper inflation
• wall street crash
• Mosalini, Stalin
• Rise of Hitler + Brown Shirts etc.

I’ve always said you cant understand the world without the media nor the media without the world – Natalie Fenton quoted in Fake News vs Media Studies

Standly Cohen Folk, Devil + Moral Panics (blame media, everything that goes wrong blame the media – ‘moral panic’)

J.,McDonald hard times are a breeding ground for misinformation’

Fake News is age old – Example War of the Worlds (propaganda)

War of The Worlds

Early example of a hybrid radio form, adapting the H.G Welles story using news and documentary conventions. (genre – Steve Neale, can be a hybrid)

Historically significance as an early, documented, example of the mass media apparently having a direct effect on an audience’s behavior. 

Orson Well’s narrated, directed and adapted H.G.Well’s novel

Anti War film

Broadcasted by CBS – Columbia Broadcasting Company (October 30th – Halloween Special 1938)

Radio – normal radio, turns into reported alien attach – fiction

Suspending disbelief – people were panicking (is that true?)

Radio exaggerated/made up audiences reaction?

To sell radios – get people talking – Fake News, Adverting

Quotes

• Reinforced his hypothesis of the dangerous power of the media
• Powerful media industries that change the way we think

Links to websites about War of the Worlds:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(1938_radio_drama)

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/radio/what-to-listen-to/the-war-of-the-worlds-panic-was-a-myth/

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/welles-scares-nation

Andrew Crissell

• Wrote the book “Understanding Radio”
• He seeks to “determine the distinctive characteristics of the radio medium”
• Describes radio as a source of “blind media”

J. McDougall

• Created a book called Fake News vs Media Studies
• Explains fake news can be seen as propaganda
• Says “hard times are a breeding ground for misinformation”

War of the Worlds Radio Podcast

• Maybe these aliens in War of the Worlds are a metaphor for the enemies because the War of the Worlds podcast was produced in 1930s, which was when the Great Depression, the American Dust bowl and WW2 began.
• It is a radio podcast of a science fiction novel that was written by H.G Wells
• War of the Worlds radio drama had left listeners into suspended disbelief and became famous because it tricked people into believing aliens were invading Earth due to the “breaking news” style of the broadcast.
• “The War of the Worlds” was the 17th episode of the CBS Radio series The Mercury Theatre on Air, which was broadcast at 8 pm ET on Sunday, October 30, 1938.
• H. G. Wells’ original novel tells the story of a Martian invasion of Earth. The novel was adapted for radio by Howard Koch, who changed the primary setting from 19th-century England to the contemporary United States, with the landing point of the first Martian spacecraft changed to rural Grover’s Mill, an unincorporated village in West Windsor Township, New Jersey.
• The science fiction drama was broadcasted from CBS, which is the Columbia Broadcasting System
• The radio science fiction drama was directed by Orson Welles and was adapted by Howard Koch
• It was described as an anti-war film by Debra Sanders
• It is a hybridization of the science fiction genre and the mystery genre.
• Normal radio episodes were broadcasted and then there was a gap before War of the Worlds was played, which makes it seem as if these broadcasts are a metaphor for other things
• War of the Worlds was a Halloween special
• In 1938, radios were just being introduced,s o it can be interpreted that War of the World was fake news to try and get more people to listen to CBS and buy radios.
• On it’s opening evening, it was estimated that around 30 million people were tuning into the broadcast and around 80% of Americans owned a radio then.

Stanley Cohen

https://www.tutor2u.net/sociology/reference/folk-devils-and-moral-panics-cohen-1972

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_devil

https://prezi.com/mjw8xi_841ra/stanley-cohen-folk-devils-moral-panic/

• Write a book called Folk Devils and Moral Panic
• His theory was introduced in 1972.
• Folk devil is a person or group of people who are portrayed in folklore or the media as outsiders and deviant, and who are blamed for crimes or other sorts of social problems. This can also be called a scapegoat
• The pursuit of folk devils frequently intensifies into a mass movement that is called a moral panic.
• When a moral panic is in full swing, the folk devils are the subject of loosely organized but pervasive campaigns of hostility through gossip and the spreading of urban legends.
• The mass media sometimes get in on the act or attempt to create new folk devils in an effort to promote controversy. Sometimes the campaign against the folk devil influences a nation’s politics and legislation.

andrew cresell wrote book “understanding radio”

says that radio is a blind medium = you cant see it ( you have images and p;pictures in your head)

aliens represent something

fake news is nothing new

“hard times are a breeding ground for misinformation”

• American science fiction disaster film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Josh Friedman and David Koepp
• produced by Paramount Pictures and Dream Works Pictures.
• won Academy Awards nominations for Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Sound Editing.
• described as an anti-war film (civilians run and only try to save themselves and their family instead of fighting back against the alien Tripods)
• Debra Saundras (an american journalist) compared the film to independence day
• released in american Ziegfeld Theatre on June 23, 2005
• Director: Steven Spielberg

Budget: 132 million USD

Narrator: morgan freeman

Box office: 603.9 million USD

• example of hybrid radio film
• CBS broadcast
• was a Halloween special – broadcast in Halloween – was it a foax? was it deliberate
• suspending disbelief – people were distressed – are aliens real?
• interesting as its a layer over fake new over fake news
• they want you to believe it was real
• Stanley Cohen wrote a book “folk devils and moral panic” – every time something bad happens, blame the media. The media causes bad things

Andrew Crisell Understanding Radio

“radio is a blind medium”

J. Mc Dougall

“Hard times are a breeding ground for misinformation”

There are always points historically where populations have been disconnected or economic hardships have been exacerbated.

Fake News/Propaganda

Historical context

Great depression

Hitler,Stalin,Mussolini,Franco

WW1 and WW2

Industry Context

War of the worlds is an episode of a american radio drama called The Mercury Theatre on the air

It was directed and narrated by actor and filmmaker Orson Welles.

It was released as the Halloween episode on 8 pm Sunday October 30 1938

It was an adaptation if H.G. Wells’s novel The war of the worlds

Distributed by CBS Columbia broadcasting service

Debra Sanders “anti war piece”

Hybrid Genre

Caused panic but wow had few listener

Important people

Stanley Cohen folk devil and moral panics

Language

Representation

Industries

• CBS radio
• An episode of a american radio drama called The Mercury Theatre on the air
• It was released as the Halloween episode on 8 pm Sunday October 30 1938

Audience

• 12 million listeners

• It was first broadcast on October 30th 1938
• Performed on radio by Orson Wells
• H. G. Wells was the author
• Upon its first release, people who tuned in after the beginning of the radio drama believed it was a real news bulletin and began to freak out.

• Home station – CBS radio
• Hosted by – The Mercury Theater on the air

• Fake news
• Anxiety era
• 12 million listeners at the time
• The relationship between newspapers and radio is significant
• By 1935 there were double the amount of radios in houses than telephones so it was easily spread.
• ‘Moral Panic’
• Stanley Cohen

The fact that Wells made such a benefit from the overblown coverage as well as CBS radio created an idea that the radio station amplified the stories of people over reacting to gain viewership and publicity. However, if people did overreact in this way then that would of supported Well’s belifes of the power of media.

Chomsky‘s argument that the media is used by powerful groups – ‘Manufacturing Consent‘ – is the most appropriate theory to structure an understanding of media, technology, control, manipulation and power.

‘Radio is a blind medium’

Add Andrew Crisell – ‘radio is a blind medium’

Broadcast near start of WW2 and spread panic to US of invasion – More important events happening in the wrold

WofW reinforced the‘dangerous power of media’ for Welles

LANGUAGE

• War of the Worlds is a good case study for students to understand the way codes and conventions of radio drama (sound, dialogue, SFX, microphone technique, silence, words, accents, dialects etc) are put together to create meaning and construct a recognisable and familiar genre (Steve Neale). War of the Worlds also belongs to the genre of sci-fi and invasion – how are the conventions evident?

The Language of Radio is used creatively to structure a text that could be taken as fact, but is clearly fiction

• But can War of the Worlds be considered as an intertextual product? Or pastiches of other genres.
• In 1938, radio was still a relatively new mass media technology, the broadcast could experiment with the form in a way not possible later on.
• At the time of the broadcast the idea of hybrid genres was unfamiliar, with clear boundaries between fact and fiction, making this a significant development in the form.

REPRESENTATION

• How does the use of media language construct the representation of the real?
• Is this programme an early example of fake news?
• What signifiers of different groups and social classes are used?
• The representation of the alien invaders in sci-fi genre.
• As a broadcast in October 1938, can War of the Worlds be interpreted as representing particular political concerns to US – and international – society?

INDUSTRY

• War of the Worlds was broadcast by Columbia Broadcasting Company – an institution still in existence (in a very different form) today – CBS
• Radio broadcasting was seen as direct competition to newspapers which had previously been the only way of receiving news.
• The broadcast is typical of the way institutions are always looking for new styles in order to attract audiences.
• Regulation – radio broadcasting was regulated by the Federal Communications Commission and it investigated the broadcast to see if it had broken any laws.
• The broadcast provides an excellent example to consider the effect of individual producers on media industries (known as ‘auteur theory’) as this is the work of Orson Welles.

Link between radio and newspapers are significant – stealing audiences from newspapers

AUDIENCE

• What techniques (ie Media Language) does the broadcast use to convince the audience that what they’re hearing is really happening?
• Consider the way that external factors – global political context, gender, religion, education etc. – are likely to also affect audience response
• The ways in which audiences interpret the same media product differently – at the time of broadcast and now (Reception theory including Hall )
• Cultivation theory including Gerbner
• 12 million listeners – only 2% of 5000 house were listening to CBS

Facts

FDR’s approved the broadcast

In 1935, there were twice as many radios in American households as telephones

Created fake news being old as used in WotW – links to changes in tech

October 30th 1938 first broadcast

‘Moral Panic’ –

Section C (teen vogue, i, WotW) – 2Q both 20 marks

Language of radio, audience and technology likely (+representation)

Andrew Crissel quote some bs

Fake News is old

broadcast on eve of WW2 and spread panic to US of invasion

Overview: Ray Ferrier, a dockworker, and his children are all set to spend a weekend together. However, an alien tripod descends on Earth, threatening to wipe out humanity.

By 1935, there were two times more radios in the home then telephones

“Moral Panic” Stanley Cohen – “Folk devils and moral panics” (worries in the public that media causes)

Andrew Crissel – “Radio is a blind media”

cbs produced world of wars

• War of the Worlds was broadcast by Columbia Broadcasting Company – an institution still in existence (in a very different form) today.
• Radio broadcasting was seen as direct competition to newspapers which had previously been the only way of receiving news.
• The broadcast is typical of the way institutions are always looking for new styles in order to attract audiences.
• Regulation – radio broadcasting was regulated by the Federal Communications Commission and it investigated the broadcast to see if it had broken any laws.
• The broadcast provides an excellent example to consider the effect of individual producers on media industries as this is the work of Orson Welles.

War of the Worlds can be considered in a historical context as it provides an interesting study of the power and influence of radio as a form during its early days of broadcasting. It is also useful to consider the product in a social, cultural and political context when considering audience responses to the programme. It was first broadcast on the eve of World War II and reflected fears of invasion in the US and concerns about international relations.

Section C (Teen Vogue, The I, War of the Worlds

2 Essays in sec C worth 20 marks each

language, representation, industries and audience

Andrew Crissel – distinctive characteristics of radio as media

Orson Welles delivered the radio broadcast

It was an adaptation of H.G Welles novel

The novel was published in 1898 but the radio broadcast was released in 1938.

Can be classed as “Fake News”

The first broadcast caused panic widely which led to the producer being forced to announce that it was fictional

Easily spread as there were double the amount of radios in homes than telephones

“Moral Panic” Stanley Cohen – “Folk devils and moral panics” (worries in the public that media causes)

Andrew Crissel – “Radio is a blind media”

CBS produced War of the Worlds

An explanation for the tenacious grip of the War of the Worlds “panic” myth is that the public then and now have a deep-rooted anxiety about the power of the media.

the Language of Radio is used creatively to structure a text that could be taken as fact, but is clearly fiction