- War of the Worlds is an early example of a hybrid radio form, adapting the H.G Welles story using news and documentary conventions. The broadcast and the initial response to it has historical significance as an early, documented, example of the mass media apparently having a direct effect on an audience’s behaviour
- War of the Worlds was broadcast by Columbia Broadcasting Company – an institution still in existence (in a very different form) today.
- At the time, radio and broadcasting was seen as direct competition to newspapers.
How do the cultural and historical circumstances affect the audience’s interpretation of media texts? Refer to the Close Study Product War of the Worlds in your answer
Viewer Reception
- -CE Hooper ratings survey – 98% of the people they surveyed weren’t actually listening to the broadcast, from a survey taken on the night of the broadcast