facts about the novel
War of the Worlds, a science-fiction novel by author HG(Herbert George) Wells, was first published in 1898. It is a story of alien invasion and war between mankind and an extra-terrestrial race from Mars.
(be spectical about what is on line about the radio broadcast)
orson wells
In 1938, the world was on edge as Germany mobilised to invade Europe and populations feared gas attacks from another world war. In the weeks leading up to the 1938 broadcast, American radio stations had increasingly cut into scheduled programming to bring news updates from Europe on the chances of war. This meant Welles’s use of radio news conventions had more of an impact on listeners who were unaware that it was a fictional radio play.
The novel is the first-person narrative of both an unnamed protagonist in Surrey and of his younger brother in London as southern England is invaded by Martians. The novel is one of the most commented-on works in the science fiction canon
The War of the Worlds has been both popular (having never been out of print) and influential, spawning half a dozen feature films, radio dramas, a record album, various comic book adaptations, a number of television series, and sequels or parallel stories by other authors. It was most memorably dramatised in a 1938 radio programme that allegedly caused public panic among listeners who did not know the Martian invasion was fiction.
he novel has even influenced the work of scientists, notably Robert H. Goddard, who, inspired by the book, invented both the liquid fuelled rocketand multistage rocket, which resulted in the Apollo 11 Moon landing 71 years later
it was a halloween special
stanley Cohen links with “moral panics”
fake devils and moral panics
he talks about that every time there is something new that’s bad blame the media
development of radio
fake media vs media studies
32 million people listening to that broadcast
history
Andrew crissell wrote a book about understanding radio. learning the languages of different media forms
“radio is a blind media”- crissell
“Ive always said you can’t understand the world without the media nor the media without the world”-Professor Natalie Fenton, quoted in Fake news vs Media Studies J. McDougall p.17 2019, Palgrave)
this csp tells us more about the meaning behind the idea
For many, the wider social, political, historical and cultural contexts are not just clearly connected to media studies but they are in some ways more important.
This is the last CSP and again features in SECTION 3, assessed by a long form answer to a broad question which will look to assess knowledge and understanding around all four elements of the Theoretical Framework (Language, Representation, Industries, Audience) although most likely the focus will be on Audience, Language (ie the Language of Radio) and technology.
he argues that fake news is nothing new and is a good thing to think about when talking about this csp (McDougall)
a great example of fake news or proper gander is war of the worlds
hard times are a breading ground for misinformation